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No.128
ISSUE
TV TIE-INS
BRONZE AGE
™
THE RETRO COMICS EXPERIENCE!
TM
Edited by MICHAEL EURY, BACK ER

EISN RD
ISSUE magazine celebrates comic AWA NER
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WIN
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Volume 1,
Number 128
July 2021
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Michael Eury
Comics’ Bronze Age and Beyond!
PUBLISHER
John Morrow
DESIGNER
Rich Fowlks
COVER DESIGNER
Michael Kronenberg
PROOFREADER BACKSEAT DRIVER: As Seen on TV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Rob Smentek A history-packed editorial exploring the parallel worlds of comic books and television
BEYOND CAPES: Dark Shadows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

SPECIAL THANKS
Gold Key’s adaptation might as well have been called “Barnabas Collins Comics and Stories”
Mark Arnold Douglas R. Kelly
Terry Austin Paul Kupperberg FLASHBACK: Dell and Gold Key Tune In… and Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19
Cary Bates Ed Lute The waning days of the traditional television tie-in comic book
BeachBumComics. Mike Main
blogspot.com Ian Millsted BACKSTAGE PASS: The Krofft Supershows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
BlogintoMystery.com John Francis Moore Comic books based upon puppeteers Sid and Marty Krofft’s Saturday morning shows
Robert Brown Richard Morgan
WHAT THE--?!: Hee Haw . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
John Byrne Mario Morhain
Charlton Comics was pickin’ and grinnin’ over this cornpone TV variety series
David Campiti Bill Mumy
Ed Catto The Museum of FLASHBACK: Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Jon B. Cooke and Uncut Funk The de-evolution of the Saturday morning live-toon in comics
Comic Book Artist Martin O’Hearn
Diversions of a Alan Pinion BACKSTAGE PASS: Primus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Groovy Kind Jim Salicrup Star Robert Brown and artist Joe Staton dive in to Charlton’s adaptation of this
Alex Saviuk underwater-action show
Kevin Dooley
Mark Evanier Scott Shaw!
FLASHBACK: Emergency! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Four-Color Merrie Spaeth Bing-bong-buuuuzzzzz! Charlton’s adaptation of NBC’s rescue-hero show
Shadows 2.0 Joe Staton
Stephan Friedt Ty Templeton FLASHBACK: The Bionic Woman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Grand Comics Steven Thompson Charlton’s short-lived spinoff of The Six Million Dollar Man
Database Toni Torres
Robert Greenberger TVObscurities.com WHAT THE--?!: Wonder Woman: Made in Argentina . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Marv Wolfman A little-known tie-in to the Lynda Carter-starring television hit
Heritage Comics
Auctions BEYOND CAPES: V: The Comic Book Series . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Holly Interlandi How the Visitors invaded DC Comics
Dan Johnson
PRO2PRO: Jim Salicrup and Alex Saviuk on Sledge Hammer! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Don’t STEAL our The writer/artist team recall Marvel’s two-issue tough-cop TV tie-in
Digital Editions! FLASHBACK: Superboy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

DC’s tie-in to the four-season Salkind-produced syndicated TV show
C’mon citizen,
DO THE RIGHT
THING! A Mom BEYOND CAPES: Lost in Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
& Pop publisher Bill Mumy and David Campiti’s oral history of Innovation’s continuation of the sci-fi classic
like us needs
every sale just to
survive! DON’T BACK TALK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
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Bronze Age TV Tie-ins Issue • BACK ISSUE • 1

The Parallel Worlds
of Comic Books
by Michael Eury and Television
Golden and Silver Age TV Tie-ins When the contagion called television infected American
households in the 1950s, other media cried foul. To
(top row) Standard’s Television Comics (#5, Feb. 1950) capitalized on critics and stuffed shirts it was a boob tube, a one-eyed
the new entertainment medium. Dell’s Howdy Doody #1 (Jan. 1950) monster that discouraged young and old alike from
reading books, its vast wasteland of lowbrow content
was the first TV tie-in comic. This I Love Lucy cover (Four Color #535, dumbing down the populace. Hollywood studios
Feb. 1954) combined a photo and art. DC’s Sgt. Bilko’s Pvt. Doberman deemed it both a substandard storytelling form and a
threat to their market, forbidding their contracted
#1 (June–July 1958) featured a traditional comic-art cover, by Bob talent from taking on television roles. And as the ’80s
Oksner. (bottom row) My Favorite Martian #1 (Jan. 1964) added song reminded us, video killed the radio star.
a boxed interior panel to its photo cover. Gold Key’s use of bright THE NIFTY ’50s
colors and geometric patterns brightened many of their ’60s covers, The proliferation of television certainly didn’t help
the comic-book biz’s sales. The industry boom that
such as Bonanza #17 (Dec. 1965). Dell used a comic-photo cover mix
started in the late 1930s—when coin-strapped
on Dell’s Get Smart #1 (June 1966), with its word balloons. And many Depression-era kids could get 64 pages of thrill-a-
of Gold Key’s TV tie-ins opted for painted covers like this one by moment excitement, all in color for a dime—had
peaked by the postwar mid-’50s, in part because TV
the prolific George Wilson on Time Tunnel #1 (Feb. 1967). was bringing into the American living room the same
Howdy Doody © NBC. I Love Lucy and Sgt. Bilko © CBS. My Favorite Martian © MPC.
type of larger-than-life cowboys and crime-crushers,
Bonanza © NBC Universal. Get Smart © Paramount. Time Tunnel © 20th Century Television.
and kooky cartoon and comedy favorites, that they
2 • BACK ISSUE • Bronze Age TV Tie-ins Issue

found in comic books… only on TV, the pictures moved and the Giants, Star Trek, and The Wild, Wild West. Dell and Gold Key Comics
characters talked. For free (the cost of a TV set aside)! were the primary homes for such TV tie-ins, including numerous
So comics publishers began licensing popular television stars funny-animal and cartoon comic books based on animated series
and properties, banking that their video visibility would equal as varied as Beany and Cecil, The Flintstones, Mister Magoo, The
strong sales. During the Golden Age, comics had done the same Mighty Hercules, and Rocky and His Fiendish Friends [Bullwinkle]. Also
with radio shows and movie personalities. Television tie-ins featured visible were Walt Disney’s and Warner Bros.’ cartoon stars, longtime
either illustrated covers or photo covers, the latter becoming highly mainstays of comic books. Often TV tie-in titles would be produced
desirable in the collector’s market today; occasionally the two were by creators whose artwork is familiar to superhero comic collectors,
blended on a single cover, with a photo of a television series’ star such as Bob Oksner (Superman, Mary Marvel) on DC’s The Many
juxtaposed against an illustrated background. The interiors, of Loves of Dobie Gillis, Jack Sparling (Eclipso, Green Lantern) drawing
course, were always in the traditional comic-book format, its panels DC’s Bomba the Jungle Boy, Steve Ditko (Amazing Spider-Man, Doctor
and word balloons featuring either adaptations of TV episodes or Strange) and Dick Giordano (Batman, the Human Target) doing
original adventures of the characters. Dell’s Get Smart and Hogan’s Heroes,
Throughout the ’50s, numerous and Jose Delbo (Wonder Woman) on
comic books based upon television Dell’s The Monkees. Dan Spiegle,
series were published (some under noted during the BACK ISSUE era
Dell’s ongoing umbrella title Four for his work on Eclipse’s Crossfire and
Color), among them Howdy Doody, DC’s Blackhawk, drew numerous
I Love Lucy, Gunsmoke, Jackie TV tie-in comics, including Maverick,
Gleason and the Honeymooners, The Rifleman, Sea Hunt, and The
Captain Kangaroo, Crusader Rabbit, Green Hornet.
Sgt. Bilko’s Pvt. Doberman, Our Miss Harvey Comics, whose friendly
Brooks, Circus Boy (featuring future ghosts and good little witches were
Monkee Micky Dolenz), and Rin widely viewed on TV animated
Tin Tin and Rusty. cartoons, embraced the impact of
Conversely, the wildly successful television starting in late 1959 by
Adventures of Superman TV series revamping their cover graphics,
brought a comic-book character placing the company’s “H” corner
to television; the show noted logo inside the obvious shape
in its closing credits that it was of TV screen. Most of Harvey’s
based upon characters appearing covers featured TV screen-shaped
in DC’s “Superman magazines.” “bullets” along the left border
Also popular was TV’s The Lone spotlighting that title’s stars, clearly
Ranger, a series starring the Old signaling to readers that these
West’s legendary masked man were “as seen on TV” characters.
who originated in 1933 in radio Harvey series such as TV Casper
adventures but soon galloped into and Company and Little Audrey TV
other media, including no end of Funtime fine-tuned their subjects’
comic-book publications including connections to the boob tube.
a spinoff starring his partner, Tonto. As with the George Reeves-
During their TV runs, both Superman starring Superman series of the ’50s,
and Lone Ranger foresaw the advent the ’60s sometimes turned to comic
of color television and switched from characters for programming, none
black and white to color during their more successfully than executive
production in the ’50s, even though producer William Dozier’s Batman,
back in the day color TVs were rare which took the world by storm in
and the vast majority of programs early 1966—and spiked the sales
were produced in black and white. of DC’s Batman-starring titles as a
The television medium itself result (Dozier’s The Green Hornet
began to play a role in many comic quickly followed; his pilots for Dick
books. Notable was DC Comics’ Tracy and Wonder Woman failed
mystery-solver Roy Raymond, TV to be green-lighted). Occasional
Detective, who headlined a backup © TV Guide Magazine. Superman TM & © DC Comics. sight gags and verbal references
series originating in Detective Comics; in his comics feature, Raymond acknowledging the Batman TV show were inserted into random
was the host of the Ripley’s Believe It or Not-like Impossible… But DC adventures, both Batman stories and non-Batman stories,
True! television program. Also, TV as a brand became desirable to none more blatant (or wacky) than the cover story of 1966’s
some comics publishers. DC’s Real Screen Comics, which started in Batman #183, where the Caped Crusader is apparently slacking
1945 as a vehicle for funnybook adventures of Columbia’s Screen off, watching himself on television. Later that year, the worlds of
Gems animated shorts like The Fox and the Crow, retitled itself TV TV and comics collided again as real-life television host Allen Funt
Screen Cartoons in 1959. Other publishers piggybacked onto the accidentally exposed Clark Kent’s Superman identity on the How is
burgeoning medium to boost otherwise lackluster funny-animal and he going to get out of this? cover of Action Comics #345.
humor product, such as Avon’s Television Puppet Show and Standard During the era of Batmania and camp humor, television listings
Comics’ Television Comics. began to look like your local newsstand’s comic spin rack, with
Filmation’s New Adventures of Superman cartoon (which also
THE SWINGIN’ ’60s featured Superboy) garnering strong ratings on Saturday mornings
Comic-book publishers continued to mine TV Guide and Nielsen and flash-in-the-pan, made-for-TV superheroes Captain Nice and
ratings for titles throughout the 1960s. This might’ve been the Mr. Terrific soaring into primetime slots. CBS (home of Superman
decade of campy crimefighters and the emergence of the Marvel and Mr. Terrific) in particular took notice of the popularity of
Age of Comics, but television tie-ins proliferated alongside superhero superheroes when commissioning Hanna-Barbera Productions to
series, among them Bonanza, Bewitched, The Beverly Hillbillies, The create a spate of them for Saturday morning television, including
Man from U.N.C.L.E., The Lucy Show, I Spy, The Invaders, Land of the Space Ghost, The Mighty Mightor, The Herculoids, and Birdman. DC’s

comic-book titles featured house ads promoting rebrandings in subsequent seasons; The Archie Show
the television adventures of Batman and Superman also brought to animated “life” a fabricated rock band,
(plus the Man of Steel’s Broadway debut in the the Archies (a feature that had previously appeared in
musical It’s a Bird… It’s a Plane… It’s Superman!); Life with Archie), who for the next few years cranked
a notorious 1966 DC house ad teased Filmation’s out popular bubblegum-pop hits including the gold
upcoming animated entries by promising cartoons record “Sugar, Sugar.” The fervor spawned by that
for Metamorpho, Plastic Man, and Wonder Woman, cartoon led to Archie Comics’ publication of the
which the company never produced. Other DC new series Everything’s Archie, the first issue of which
house ads listed TV stations airing syndicated reruns depicted on its cover a group of teens dancing to the
of the ’50s classic, Adventures of Superman. music of the Archies (who were shown on a television
Also premiering in 1966, Grantray-Lawrence’s screen), as well as Archie’s TV Laugh-Out, cribbing its
syndicated The Marvel Super Heroes television cartoons title from NBC’s Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In while
(featuring Captain America, the Mighty Thor, Iron parading its stars’ small-screen presence in its logo.
rs.
Man, the Incredible Hulk, and the Sub-Mariner in Batman and Superman weren’t content to allow the
© the respective copyright holde
animated shorts) were marketed inside Marvel’s Riverdale gang to overshadow their television presence
books, and the next year’s debut of The Fantastic Four in 1969, however; when public television launched its
and Spider-Man as Saturday morning cartoons proved Sesame Street children’s program late that year, the
successful… and attracted new fans to their four-color Caped Crusader and Man of Steel both appeared in
source material, as had Batman the year before. DC’s educational segments (animated by Filmation) in its
Saturday morning profile blossomed in 1967, as the first season—promoted in DC’s comic books in a house
half-hour Superman became The Superman/Aquaman ad illustrated by Murphy Anderson.
Hour of Adventure, from Filmation, also featuring
animated shorts starring the Atom, the Flash, Green THE SUPER ’70s
Lantern, Hawkman, the Justice League of America, So now we enter the era of this magazine’s coverage,
and the Teen Titans. The following season, once the the Bronze Age, which began in 1970. TV’s Batman
live-action Batman was cancelled, the Superman/ had, beginning in 1968, transitioned from live-
Aquaman show was rebranded The Batman/Superman action to Saturday morning animation (although the
Hour, with Aquaman moving out into his own half- ’60s live-action Batman series could still be found
JLA on CTW hour series airing on Sunday mornings. in syndication), while DC Comics’ Batman-starring
This volleying between the two mediums Batman, Detective Comics, and The Brave and the Bold
The World’s Finest included double-page-spread illustrated advertisements began to distance themselves from POW! CRUNCH!
appearing in comic books, beginning in 1966, that ZOWIE! sound effects and cornball villains and had
heroes appeared in
promoted the new fall lineups of Saturday morning returned to the feature’s original, “creature of the
animated vignettes television, which remain cherished and iconic memories night” gothic roots. Also in the comics, the former
among many fans who grew up with them. Marvel Boy Wonder, Robin—now having matured into the
in Season One of Comics published a 1968 one-shot (see inset) titled Teen Wonder—packed his bags and bolted from
Sesame Street, as America’s Best TV Comics, which promoted ABC’s Wayne Manor to Hudson University, splitting up the
toon lineup in comic-book stories, mostly reprints. Batman and Robin team. In television animation,
advertised in this Some comic books followed Harvey Comics’ lead by however, Robin remained eternally boyish and part
Murphy Anderson- trumpeting their television kinship in their very names, of the traditional Dynamic Duo in everything from
such as Gold Key’s Hanna-Barbera Super TV Heroes. Hanna-Barbera’s long-running Super Friends franchise
drawn house ad By the end of the decade, another longtime star to Filmation’s 1977 The New Adventures of Batman
appearing in 1969 of comic books—America’s favorite freckle-faced cartoons—the latter of which kept alive the spirit of
teenager, Archie Andrews—made the jump to the live-action Batman show by employing its stars,
DC comic books. Saturday morning television in an animated series Adam West and Burt Ward, to voice the Dynamic Duo.
TM & © DC Comics.
that was a ratings smash and progenitor for numerous Television had, in the ’60s, played an active role
in many superhero comic-book stories, from Peter
Parker’s original exploitation of his Spider-Man
powers on TV to the Creeper’s alter ego Jack Ryder’s
job as a controversial
talk-show host. DC
Comics’ Julius Schwartz
recognized how video
was replacing print as
the primary platform for
news, and when taking
over the editorial helm
TM & © DC Comics.
of Superman in late 1970

changed Clark Kent’s
vocation from newspaper
journalist for the Daily
Planet to on-air news
anchor and reporter for
Metropolis’ WGBS-TV (see inset). While Kent continued
to moonlight for the Planet throughout the rest of
Schwartz’s long control of the Superman franchise,
which concluded upon his retirement in 1986 when
John Byrne revamped the hero in The Man of Steel,
Clark’s primary job was in front of the live television
camera—which made sneaking away to become
Superman a much bigger challenge.

AN EDITOR’S WISH LIST OF TV TIE-INS
After surveying the wonderful world of TV tie-in comics in my research for this
Recolored detail from 1965 Gilligan’s Island

trading card pack. © Warner Bros. Television.
feature, a few missed opportunities have become head-scratchers for
me… and maybe for you.
Gilligan’s Island (1964–1967): Producer Sherwood Schwartz’s other

hit sitcom, The Brady Bunch, at least mustered a pair of ho-hum
Dell Comics editions. But Schwartz’s first TV comedy and its cast
of seven castaways—which even spawned a Filmation animated
show in the 1970s!—had no comic book of its own during
its original run. Imagine Gilligan’s bumbling, the Skipper’s
grumbling, and Ginger’s wiggling as drawn by, say, Mike
Sekowsky. Or Wally Wood. And then there’s the photo covers
we could’ve had!
Gilligan’s Island, for whatever reason, had very little
merchandising during its original run, missing out on the
items often associated with a hit show during that era—no
lunchbox, View-Master reels, a Colorforms playset, nor, of course,
a Gold Key or Dell comic. Too bad, little buddy!
The Green Hornet (1966–1967): Yes, I’m aware of the three Gold Key Green Hornet
tie-in issues. While they were beautifully drawn by Dan Spiegle, I daresay that
without their suitable-for-framing photo covers and the mystique behind co-star Bruce
“Kato” Lee’s death, these comics would not be as highly regarded today.
Imagine this: Given its relationship with executive producer William Dozier, what
if National Periodicals Publications (DC) had licensed The Green Hornet in 1966,
shoehorning him into the DC Universe as the publisher did two years later with Captain
Action? DC’s Green Hornet would have been in good hands with either Gil Kane or Carmine
Infantino as penciler. Feel the sting!
Hawaii Five-0 (1968–1980): Hey, I would’ve bought a Gold Key Hawaii Five-0 comic based solely upon the merit
of seeing Steve McGarrett’s plastered-down sideburns on a photo cover! But its exotic locale and flashy visuals
would’ve been fun to adapt to comics. Dan Spiegle is my pick as the Five-0 artist. Comic book ’em, Danno!
Wonder Woman (1975–1979): As we explored back in BACK ISSUE #37, in the mid-1970s DC briefly mirrored
the World War II setting of TV’s Wonder Woman by telling 1940s-based stories of the Golden Age Amazon
Princess in its WW monthly.
But once the television series fast-forwarded to the then-current 1970s, a TV show-inspired Wonder Woman
comic, bearing the “DC TV” imprint, might have performed better than the traditional WW book. Michael
Netzer (then Nasser) drew a beautiful Lynda Carter likeness on the cover of Amazing World of DC Comics #15;
he gets my vote as the artist of this tie-in comic, with Alan Weiss in rotation if deadlines posed a problem. All the
world’s waiting for you!
Saturday Night Live (1975–current): Larry Hama revealed to BACK ISSUE a while back that Marvel at one
time was developing a never-released black-and-white Benny Hill comic magazine… which brings to mind the
possibility of an SNL B&W mag. From Not Brand Echh to Spoof to Crazy, Marvel was no stranger to superhero,
comic strip, TV, and movie parodies, and some of the same SNL characters which were spun off into films
would’ve adapted well to comics (I’ll be dreaming of an Earl Norem Blues Brothers painted cover all day
now). Too bad this one didn’t arise out of the Marvel/NBC partnership that birthed the Spidey/Not-Ready-for-
Primetime-Players team-up of 1978. Live from New York, it’s Mighty Marvel!
Charlie’s Angels (1976–1981): Sorry, ’70s DC, but in the era of TV super-sisters like Police Woman and Get Christie
Love, Lady Cop didn’t quite cut it. One thing that 1st Issue Special curiosity gave us that’s hard to forget, though,
was Lady Cop’s dynamite Dick Giordano cover. Giordano always had a flair for good girl art, and was adept at
drawing real-world scenes and flashy cars. Since Charlie’s Angels was, for most of its run, a hit and merchandising
cash cow—even surviving the departure of Farrah and her hair—Aaron Spelling’s police-academy graduates
would have made the perfect addition to the DC-TV line, especially with Dick at the artistic helm. Good
morning, Charlie!

Another memorable mash-up of the worlds of comic books and Affair, The Banana Splits, H. R. Pufnstuf, Adam 12, The Pink Panther,
television occurred in 1974 when “Spidey Super Stories” premiered and Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp. Dell countered with The Mod
as a live-action skit on the educational TV program The Electric Squad, The Courtship of Eddie’s Father, and Room 222 among its TV
Company. These adventures featured a pantomiming Spider-Man tie-ins, but those titles were short-lived as the publisher ceased its
who only “spoke” in word balloons as he foiled not-so-super bad comics line not long into the 1970s.
guys. This feature inspired a spinoff comic book, Spidey Super Stories, In terms of sheer volume, no publisher of TV tie-ins in the ’70s
a joint production of Marvel Comics and The Electric Company’s could outmatch Charlton Comics. Charlton, the Derby, Connecticut,
Children’s Television Workshop. publisher known for knockoffs, poor production values, and an in-
Spidey was far from the only live-action superhero appearing on house printing press that ran 24/7, started dabbling in TV tie-ins,
television in the 1970s. Filmation’s live-action Shazam! premiered on with properties including TV’s Bullwinkle and Rocky, Dudley Do-Right,
Saturday mornings in 1974, with The Secrets of Isis following in 1975. Primus, The Partridge Family, Underdog, and Hee Haw. Charlton soon
Primetime television experienced a superhero explosion throughout scooped up the Hanna-Barbera license from Gold Key (see next issue
the 1970s, from made-for-TV features like The Six Million Dollar Man for details) and began a ballooning list of titles, including a Flintstones
(based upon the novel Cyborg) and The Bionic Woman to live-action franchise that gave almost every resident of Bedrock their own book
adaptations of comics’ Wonder Woman, The Incredible Hulk, and (sorry, Mr. Slate and Joe Rockhead, you didn’t make the cut). H-B
The Amazing Spider-Man (plus Captain America and Doctor Strange
telemovies). The decade ended with two Legends of the SuperHeroes
specials, live-action joke-fests returning Adam West and Burt Ward Teaming Up with Easy Reader
to their Batman and Robin roles, joined by a host of additional DC
heroes and villains. Saturday morning kid-vid remained a safe haven (left) Spidey Super Stories title ran 57 issues, starting with
for animated adventures of comic-book superheroes throughout the this John Romita, Sr.-drawn cover for issue #1
1970s, including 1978’s Fantastic Four, which soured many fans by
substituting the cloying H.E.R.B.I.E. the Robot for the FF’s Human (Oct. 1974). (inset) Pantomiming Spidey meets
Torch. The comic books themselves continued to annually feature Morgan Freeman on The Electric Company!
illustrated house ads for each fall’s Saturday morning kids’ shows,
some ads featuring dynamite artwork by Neal Adams. (right) Original Jack Sparling cover painting (courtesy of
TV tie-ins still heavily populated the spin racks throughout the Heritage) for Charlton’s Six Million Dollar Man comic,
1970s. Gold Key Comics and Dell Comics started the decade pretty
much doing business as usual, their television tie-ins sporting the issue #4 (Dec. 1979).
traditional photo covers. Included in Gold Key’s lineup: Family Spider-Man TM & © Marvel. Six Million Dollar Man © Universal.

’70s Flashbacks
Introducing the DC TV
Comics: (top) Shazam!
#25 (Sept.–Oct. 1976),
intro’ing Isis to the
world of comics, and its
spinoff Isis #1 (Oct.–Nov.
1976). Covers by Kurt
Schaffenberger. (bottom
left) Super Friends #1
(Nov. 1976). Cover by
Ernie Chua and Vince
Colletta. (bottom right)
TV’s Sweathogs hopped
to comics beginning with
DC’s Welcome Back, Kotter
#1 (Nov. 1976). Cover
by Bob Oksner. See the
checklist accompanying
this editorial to discover
past BIs featuring articles
about these series.
TM & © DC Comics. Welcome Back, Kotter
© Warner Bros. Television.
stalwarts like Huckleberry Hound, Yogi Bear, and The Jetsons were titles, save for The Six Million Dollar Man and a short-lived The Bionic
joined at Charlton by newer properties such as Hong Kong Phooey, Woman comic. The company ultimately threw in the towel in the
Scooby-Doo, Valley of the Dinosaurs, Wheelie and the Chopper Bunch 1980s and stopped publishing comics entirely.
(featuring early John Byrne artwork), and The Great Grape Ape. In DC Comics rolled out a “DC TV” imprint beginning in the
the summer of 1975, Charlton expanded its TV line by adding Gerry summer of 1976, after Jenette Kahn, who hailed from the world of
Anderson’s live-action Space: 1999 to its roster, in two formats, as children’s magazine publishing, was hired as DC Comics’ publisher,
a traditional comic book with all-ages stories and as a black-and- replacing the ousted Carmine Infantino. This initiative folded in
white magazine with stories skewed toward older readers. In 1976 DC’s existing Shazam! series, in which writer E. Nelson Bridwell
Charlton followed with The Six Million Dollar Man and Emergency! added nuances to make the comic continuity more recognizable
in both formats, but in late 1976 it temporary halted comic-book to viewers of the live-action Shazam! show. The other DC TV
production, resuming the next year by releasing numerous reprint comics were Isis, Super Friends (which enjoyed a long run), and a

peculiar companion to this trio of superheroes, the As Marvel’s market presence strengthened
schoolroom-based sitcom Welcome Back, Kotter. throughout the ’70s, beyond the Hanna-Barbera titles
During Charlton’s aforementioned temporary the House of Ideas acquired other media licenses for
shutdown of 1976–1977, Marvel Comics, of all comic adaptations, pulling from the worlds of toys
companies, reentered the kids-comic arena from which (Micronauts, ROM: Spaceknight), film (Star Wars and
they had been absent for some time and acquired numerous one-shot movie adaptations), and, of course,
the Hanna-Barbera license. Four H-B titles launched television (Man from Atlantis, Battlestar Galactica).
Marvel’s initiative: Dynomutt, The Flintstones, Scooby- Across the great pond, UK fans were privy to comic
Doo, and Yogi Bear. The books’ cover graphics cited stories featuring both British and American television
rs.
their source material by trapping the price and issue series in periodicals such as TV Action and Look-in as
number inside a TV set shape; each cover included a well as annuals with hefty page counts. It seemed that
border roster of headshots showcased inside a filmstrip no matter where comic books were sold in the 1970s,
design. A character-loaded Laff-A-Lympics title was there was no shortage of TV-inspired offerings.
added, plus various other publications including a
short-lived TV Stars series with rotating features. Mark THE BIG ’80s AND BEYOND
Evanier was the main creative force behind Marvel’s It was still business as usual with the comic book/
H-B product, which featured contributions from television synergy in the fall of 1979 when DC’s
comic-book creators Paul Norris, Scott Shaw!, and Pliable Pretzel was brought to Saturday morning TV
Alex Toth, among others. by animation house Ruby-Spears in The Plastic Man
Comedy/Adventure Show (which featured live-action
interstitials hosted by an actor portraying Plas),
which ran a couple of seasons and ultimately gave
the world Baby Plas. The show’s launch afforded DC
Mark Harris is All Wet!

(left) An unused Gil Kane cover preliminary
for the cover of Marvel’s Man from Atlantis
#4 (May 1978), adapting the NBC adventure
series. Courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions
(www.ha.com). (right) Considerable changes
were made in what became the published
Kane cover, inked by Tony DeZuniga.
© NBCUniversal/Solow Production Company.

Comics the chance to revive the Stretchable Sleuth, of fans, a far cry from the broader, general-audience 30 Rock Comics
so Plastic Man starred in Adventure Comics #467 readership of days of yore.
(cover-dated Jan. 1980), a title that became a “split Marvel made a valiant effort to attract children (left) Smilin’ Stan
book” halved between Plas and a new interstellar to comic books in 1984 by launching its Star Lee hosts Saturday
version of Starman (see BACK ISSUE #115). The Comics initiative, editorially helmed by one-time
animated Plastic Man show opened with a “From Harvey Comics editor Sid Jacobson. Star Comics Night Live in the
out of the pages of DC Comics” announcement, titles, distributed to traditional newsstands, were a
offbeat Marvel Team-
and DC’s house ads promoted Adventure’s Plas as hodgepodge of made-for-Marvel kid-friendly series
“Saturday morning’s super-star.” such as Top Dog and Royal Roy, and properties popular Up #74 (Oct. 1978).
Yet TV tie-in comics withered on the vine as the with children that were licensed from other media,
’80s progressed. Traditional publishers were closing including television’s Muppet Babies and Thundercats.
Cover by Marie
shop, and once-venerable Gold Key’s line had shrunk The line continued to grow, adding new TV tie-ins such Severin. (right)
to mostly its time-tested Disney and Warner Bros. as Defenders of the Earth and Camp Candy, and the
titles—save for a Battle of the Planets TV tie-in comic titles’ branding shifted from Star to Marvel. After four My, oh my, look
in the early ’80s (which we’ll cover next issue!)— years Marvel abandoned the project, its one enduring who’s on Letterman!
before soon ending soon its comic output. Long gone success story being Peter Porker, the Spectacular Spider-
were Harvey’s cover graphics linking their comics Ham (see BACK ISSUE #39), a funny-animal character Avengers #239
to television; instead, its vast Richie Rich franchise that has enjoyed a comeback in recent years. (Jan. 1984) cover
dominated the publisher’s offerings. Throughout the ’80s, television cartoons largely
Changes were afoot in the comic-book world that became a vehicle to sell toys, with syndicated by Al Milgrom and
would soon alter the dynamic between the industry animated series timed to launch alongside action- Joe Sinnott.
and television. Sales had been on a steady decline figure lines… often with an accompanying debut of a
for decades, in part the result of television usurping comic book. G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero was the big TM & © Marvel. SNL, NBC,
the general reader from the market and newsstands winner of this comics/toys/TV package phenomenon, and Late Night © NBC.
and other outlets limiting their display of comics, becoming an extremely popular Marvel (not Star)
which had lower profit margins than higher-priced title beginning in 1982. Other standouts: DC Comics
and better-selling periodicals. The direct sales brought He-Man and the Masters of the Universe to
market was born and comics began appearing only comics beginning with a Superman team-up in DC
in specialty shops, cultivating a smaller readership Comics Presents #47 (July 1982), while Marvel also

scored a triumph with Transformers. Even the long- moved some copies of a Dukes of Hazzard comic—
running Super Friends was altered to hawk Kenner’s and the same could probably be said about Tom
Super Powers action figures in its final incarnations, Selleck in short-shorts on a Magnum P.I. comic. And
ending its TV run in 1986. c’mon, admit it—wouldn’t you like a “Who Shot
During the era of ’80s toy-based comics, aside J.R.?” photo cover on a Dallas TV tie-in comic in your
from the oft-revived perennial Star Trek, TV tie-ins collection? An oasis in this TV photo-cover desert
were rare, sometimes popping out of nowhere, was Now’s Married… with Children series, which
like Comico’s delightful Jonny Quest and Space came along in 1991 and often featured photo covers
Ghost, Now Comics’ The Original Astro Boy, Marvel’s of its beleaguered Bundy clan.
A-Team and Sledge Hammer!, DC’s V, Triad’s The One throwback is noteworthy here, mainly because
© NBC. Scan courtesy of Scott Shaw!
Honeymooners (featuring the 1950s classic sitcom), it’s a curiosity that probably escaped the eye of most
and Innovation’s Lost in Space (continuing the BACK ISSUE readers: In the vein of Marvel’s 1968
adventures of the 1960s TV sci-fi show). The days America’s Best TV Comics, in 1991 Harvey Comics
of photo-cover comic books based upon popular published NBC Saturday Morning Comics (see inset
primetime shows was mostly a relic of the past. And at left), a one-shot featuring comic stories starring
man, did we miss out on some ’80s photo covers! NBC’s children’s programming lineup.
Picture, if you will, KITT careening toward the reader
on a Gold Key Knight Rider #1, with an inset headshot TV TIE-INS FOREVER!
of the well-coifed David Hasselhoff. Or a neon-hued As the direct market reshaped the readership of
Miami Vice logo over a photo of an unshaven Don comics, both nostalgia and fan-skewed genre television
Johnson. Catherine Bach in short-shorts would’ve programs have led to the rebirth of the TV tie-in comic
book, some featuring photo covers. For 25 years Bongo
Comics brought the Simpsons universe to comic books.
DC and Marvel have produced numerous kid-friendly
comics based upon their respective animated series
(and in DC’s case, based upon the properties of its
sister company, Hanna-Barbera), none more acclaimed
that DC’s The Batman Adventures and its continuations,
spawned by the success of 1992’s Batman: The Animated
Series. Comic adaptations of live-action superhero TV
shows have also appeared, like DC’s Superboy, which
launched in late 1989 and ironically flew into the face
of newly established continuity since the Teen of Steel
had recently been sidelined in the Man of Steel reboot
and the publisher’s overall Crisis on Infinite Earths
initiative. From then-new properties like Alien Nation,
The X-Files, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Babylon 5 to
retro revivals like The Greatest American Hero, Batman
’66, and Charlie’s Angels, many television series new
and old have inspired comic books during the past few
decades. And more are sure to follow.
In retrospect, perhaps the greatest benefit of the
blending of the worlds of comic books and television
is TV’s contribution to the preservation of the comic-
book business—the very business whose sales had been
damaged by the one-eyed monster. As DC publisher
Jenette Kahn told her editors in the early 1990s after
the success of Tim Burton’s Batman movie and several
DC properties being developed as TV series, DC’s
’80s and ’90s Flashbacks

(top left) Marvel’s G.I. Joe, A Real American
Hero became a hit for the publisher. Issue #1
(June 1982) cover by Herb Trimpe and Bob
McLeod. (top right) NBC’s family-friendly
sitcom ALF enjoyed a 50-issue Marvel run.
Issue #1’s (Mar. 1988) photo cover, also
featuring Dave Manak/Marie Severin artwork.
(bottom) Television’s The X-Files and Buffy
the Vampire Slayer, both cult faves of the
1990s, transitioned to comic books for
long and popular runs.
G.I. Joe © Hasbro. ALF © NBCUniversal. X-Files and
Buffy © 20th Century Television.

TV TIE-IN COMICS
(LIVE ACTION)
This checklist will allow you to dig deeper into our
backlist for more information about the comic books
based upon, or the comics/TV connections to, the
shows listed below.
• The A-Team (Mr. T): BI #36

• ALF: BI #77
rs.
• Battlestar Galactica: BI #89

• Bobby Sherman (Getting
Together): BI #101
• Doctor Who: BI #63
• The Flash (live-action TV series):
C’mon, Get Happy! BI #23
Artist Don Sherwood used photo reference to ensure • The Green Hornet: BI #18
• The Incredible Hulk (live-action
that the stars of Charlton’s The Partridge Family looked
series): BI #5 (Lou Ferrigno
like their television counterparts. (See BI #101 for our interview), 70 (series overview)
Partridge comic history.) • Isis: BI #23
© Sony Pictures Television. • Korg: 70,000 B.C.: BI #43
• Man from Atlantis: BI #55
rs.
parent company Warner Bros. regarded the comic-book house as “a • The Partridge Family: BI #101
garden of characters from which to choose.” • Saturday Night Live (Spider-Man
These days, comic-book sales continue to shrink, and some
and the Not-Ready-for-Primetime
longtime readers and creators are vocal with their criticisms and
course-correction recommendations about the current state of the Players in Marvel Team-Up #74):
business. Yet we cannot deny that without this sometimes incestuous BI #66
comics/Hollywood relationship, our beloved Green Lantern and Iron
• Shazam!: BI #30 (Jackson
Man and their ilk might today be found only in flea market bins rather
than on television, in movie theaters, on T-shirts and underwear, and Bostwick and John Davey
in a plethora of media platforms. interviews), 33 (Michael Gray
interview), 93
In this issue we dial back to the Bronze Age and examine many TV
tie-in comic books of the 1970s, including Charlton’s The Bionic Woman, • The Six Million Dollar Man: BI #25
which received only a cursory look in BACK ISSUE #25’s Six Million Dollar • Space: 1999: BI #120
Man article. In the pages that follow, our focus is exclusively upon
• Spider-Man (live-action and
rs.
live-action television series that were adapted to comic books (a theme

suggested by Douglas R. Kelly, one of our contributing writers). Next Japanese live-action series):
month, we stay glued to the tube for an issue devoted to Bronze Age BI #44
comic books based upon animated TV shows.
• Star Trek: BI #5, 23
Please note that many TV tie-in comics of the Bronze Age, based on
both live-action and cartoon series, have been previously covered in • Swamp Thing: BI #36
these pages and are absent from this issue. Consult the accompanying • Teen Titans: BI #122
checklist for more information about BI’s earlier coverage of live-action
• The Twilight Zone (Carol Serling
TV tie-ins; a similar checklist of previous articles about cartoon TV
tie-ins will appear in our next issue. interview): BI #55
As you’ll discover when flipping through TV tie-in comic books, • Welcome Back, Kotter: BI #23
realistic celebrity likenesses were often as fuzzy as poor rabbit-ear
• Wonder Woman (live-action
reception. Sometimes the likenesses were dead-on, as with Charlton’s
The Partridge Family, where artist Don Sherwood clearly worked with series): BI #5
photo reference. Other times the shortcomings of an illustrator or the
lack of celebrity licensor approval made the characters in TV tie-in
comics look little like the actors playing them on the tube. That’s one
reason many collectors are more interested in the tie-ins’ covers— BACK ISSUE editor MICHAEL EURY was raised
especially photo covers—than the interiors. Like TV Guide photo on ’60s and ’70s television, spending more
covers and View-Master packets, TV tie-in photo covers are a nostalgic time studying TV Guide than his schoolbooks.
snapshot that, in a single image, take you back to simpler times. Today he commands the marginally impressive
superpower of total recall of classic TV show
So kick off your shoes, prop up your feet, and tune in to some
themes and often sings them aloud, even if asked
of the finest—and in a few instances, weirdest—television shows that
not to. No wonder he’s the editor of TwoMorrows’
comic books have to offer. No remote control is necessary! RetroFan magazine!

by Steven Thompson
A Soap Opera
You Can Sink
Your Teeth Into
A portrait of
Jonathan Frid as
Barnabas Collins.
Color print by
Ken Bald, artist of
the Dark Shadows
newspaper strip.
Courtesy of Heritage
Comics Auctions
(www.ha.com).
Dark Shadows TM & ©
Dan Curtis Productions.

“My name is Victoria Winters, and although I was initially the
main character on Dark Shadows, I was gone from Collinwood
and the entire series by the time the Gold Key comic book arrived
on the scene in 1969.”
Producer Dan Curtis’ Dark Shadows had premiered on ABC

television in 1966 as a daily soap opera, aimed at cashing in
on the trend of Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights-style gothic
romances. Initially it had centered on Miss Winters, who arrives
in a small fishing village in Maine as the new young governess
to ten-year-old David Collins at Collinwood, “a house filled
with strangeness and mystery.”
Critics in 1966 called Dark Shadows “television’s first
continuing suspense drama,” and “exciting viewing for the
young housewife.” Many of the initially released publicity
shots for the daytime series featured young Victoria running
away from the mysterious mansion on a hill, thus bringing to
life a thousand mass market paperback covers then on display
at the local Woolworth.
From the beginning, the daily television series was shot
so quickly that it had no time for retakes or fancy editing.
What they shot was what you got, and the show became
known for its jiggly props, chintzy special effects, doors that
wouldn’t stay open or closed, and crewmen often seen in
shots. There were so many of these bloopers that decades later
they would be released on VHS tape.
You have to admit, it doesn’t really sound particularly
conducive to being adapted into comic-book form. But that
was all before the phenomenon hit. After Barnabas Collins
returned to Collinwood, all bets were off.
The idea of a gothic TV soap may have been original, but
it was not popular. Finishing in 13th place among other soaps
in its first year, ABC gave the producers a limited period in
which to up the show’s ratings or get the ax. According to
legend, Dan Curtis decided to go out with a vampire story,
and Barnabas Collins was created for a simple 13-week run.
He’d bite some people, then he’d be hunted down and staked
or locked back in his coffin and the show would go off the air.
But Dark Shadows didn’t exist in a vacuum. Concurrent with
the series was the peak period of the monster revival, which
had seen magazines such as Famous Monsters of Filmland,
Fantastic Monsters, and Castle of Frankenstein introducing
young readers and teens to the classic Universal monster films
and reviving interest in such actors as Boris Karloff, Vincent
Price, and the late Bela Lugosi.
Those monster-loving kids and teens got word that fangs
were being seen on afternoon TV and started rushing home Portrait of
from school to watch Dark Shadows. Jonathan Frid, the
Canadian actor who portrayed Barnabas, began to appear on a Vampire
not just talk shows but also children’s shows. He and some of (top) Gold Key
the men on the show posed topless in magazines for teen girls
like Tiger Beat and 16. Before you knew it, there were games, Comics’ Dark
toys, glow-in-the-dark models, a long series of paperback Shadows #1
novels, and two feature film adaptations. By that point, comic
books seemed a perfectly logical tie-in. (Mar. 1969),
Unfortunately, neither Marvel nor DC were in a position
featuring a photo
to license the property. The Comics Code Authority, since the
mid-1950s, had expressly stated: “Scenes dealing with, cover starring
or instruments associated with walking dead, torture, vampires
and vampirism, ghouls, cannibalism, and werewolfism (sic) are
Jonathan Frid.
prohibited.” The only mainstream comic-book companies that (bottom) Barnabas
did not subscribe to the Code were Dell—then on its last legs—
and Gold Key (Western Publishing), a family-friendly comics is cover-featured on
publisher then absolutely thriving with licensed properties. this 1970 Gold Key
In his introduction to the 2010 reprints from Hermes Press,
writer Dr. Jeff Thompson (no relation) acknowledges that the Dark Shadows digest.
authorship of the Dark Shadows series is partially unknown. © Dan Curtis Productions.
He quotes Gold Key’s East Coast editor Wally Green as writing,
in a letter from when the comic was still coming out, “We have
used several writers so far. A couple ran dry after some good
stories. One or two never really did get the hang of it.”

One writer known to have worked on the series is
Arnold Drake. Drake was a comics veteran, credited with
one of the earliest graphic novels—It Rhymes with Lust—
as well as co-creating the Doom Patrol and Deadman for
DC and the Guardians of the Galaxy for Marvel. He had
also been a screenwriter, having written the cult films
The Flesh Eaters and Who Killed Teddy Bear? Drake told
Thompson that he had never paid much attention to
the TV series and that his goal was always just to turn
out a good story, without much regard for restrictive
continuity. It is believed that Drake’s first issue was Dark
Shadows #22 (Oct. 1973) and that he was responsible
for six non-consecutive issues after that.
Other writers known to have written issues here and
there are John Warner and Gerry Boudreau, the former
best known for work he did at Marvel and the latter for
his work at Warren. A news report in a 1973 issue of
The Comic Reader mentions that “Gerry Boudreau has a
few Dark Shadows coming up.”
Researching this article has brought to light one
of the unsung Dark Shadows writers, and she’s quite
the surprise indeed, as she was already known for
two other highly visible careers—as a remarkable
young actress in the 1960s and on the world stage
for her pivotal role in the Reagan White House and in
Republican politics beyond.
The fact that Gold Key
never gave credits assured
her anonymity, but
Merrie Spaeth has never
hidden the fact that
she worked in comic
books. It’s mentioned
in newspaper articles
dating back as far as
the early 1970s and
on IMDB comments in
recent years. But as
Merrie Spaeth has
never been a part of merrie spaeth
the comics world,
those mentions flew
past almost everyone who cares about such things.
There weren’t a lot of female comics writers in the
1960s and ’70s. Ms. Spaeth was working for New York
magazine. The way she remembers it, one day the air-
conditioning in the office broke down. The repairman
sent to fix it noticed her typing away on her IBM
Selectric and asked if she was a writer. He told her that
he was also an illustrator and that he drew Smokey Bear
comic books for Gold Key Comics’ Manhattan office.
He told her they were looking for writers.
Although she had grown up reading Archie comics,
the concept of writing comics had never occurred
to her until that point. Always looking to expand
her horizons, Merrie met with editor Wally Green,
Vague Resemblance
(top left) Frid as Barnabas (from the photo
back cover of Dark Shadows #1) and
(top right) artist Joe Certa’s interpretation
of the ABC afternoon vampire. (bottom)
Dark Shadows #1, setting the stage for
the series by presenting the backstory for
Barnabas Collins.
© Dan Curtis Productions.

whom she describes as “terrific,” and began picking new bride of Roger Collins around the time this story
up assignments. Her first assignments were for Boris would have been written. (Inexplicably, Cassandra is The Wonderful
Karloff’s Tales of Mystery. “I supported myself for two depicted as a long-haired redhead in this first issue Mr. Wilson
years in New York City while being a ‘real writer,’” she and, as Angelique, in later issues as well. On the air,
says. She says it all came easily to her. She just let her Lara Parker was known for her stylish mountain of piled Really, is there
imagination run wild and turned in full scripts, going so blonde hair as Angelique and wore a small, darker wig anyone out there
far as to describe for the artists—with whom she never when masquerading as Cassandra.) Similarly, there’s
had any contact—what the pictures should look like. a one-panel flashback showing Barnabas walling up who doesn’t love
After she had proven her reliability, Green assigned Reverend Trask, another event from the daily serial. The those extraordinary
Spaeth to Dark Shadows. When asked if she had been story’s plot, in fact, involves two young men and a girl
a fan of the TV series, she enthusiastically offers, searching for information on Trask, and Barnabas and Gold Key painted
“Of course!” As for the comics assignment, she says, Angelique attempting to prevent them from finding it.
covers by George
“They were best because Gold Key paid by the page Soon enough it became obvious that there was
and instead of a six-page [story], Dark Shadows was 25 simply no way to keep up and all attempts at tying in Wilson? Here’s
pages! Two a month paid my rent!” to the TV continuity were dropped beyond the basic
Although convinced she still has records of which characterizations: Barnabas Collins was a vampire,
his original cover
specific issues she worked on, she has not been able Quentin Collins a werewolf (albeit the least hirsute painting for
to locate them as of this point. In fact, although she werewolf ever in a comic book), Angelique a witch,
knows she was always paid the full amount, she says and the rest just showed up as the story required. Dark Shadows
she can’t be certain that her scripts weren’t turned over In this case, in spite of the show’s large and varied #11 (Nov. 1971),
to “a more seasoned writer” to dialogue. She was, cast of characters, “the rest” here consisted of a pared-
as she put it, “low man on the totem pole.” down group of regulars that only included Roger courtesy of Heritage
Comics historian Martin O’Hearn believes that the Dark Collins, his sister Elizabeth Collins Stoddard, Dr. Julia Comics Auctions
Shadows stories Merrie Spaeth wrote are most likely in Hoffman, and Professor Stokes. After his TV introduction
the early issues, currently attributed—perhaps incorrectly— and subsequent teen idol popularity, Quentin Collins (www.ha.com).
to Don Arneson. O’Hearn says, “The only issue that I know was added without explanation, although he was © Dan Curtis Productions.
of Arneson’s specifically mentioning is #1—about having
to write the epilogue at the last minute to fill in when
it was decided to run the book without advertising.”
Editor Green, in a 1986 interview, stated that Dark
Shadows had originally been planned as a quarterly
title, with advertising, but that someone higher-up
decided it would be a one-shot, “…which meant,
under the laws, that we could not put advertising
in it. We were suddenly faced with six blank pages.”
He contacted Arneson, and “we decided to try tacking
an epilogue onto this story. I asked him to do it; he
said he’d give it a try. It’s kind of a tall order because
when you figure… he’s written here a story with a very
definite ending to it and here I come along and ask him
to tack on a six-page coda.” In the end, though, Green
felt that it worked. “It didn’t seem like too much of an
afterthought,” he said, “even though it was. “It looked
like an integral part of the whole story.”
Don (D. J.) Arneson was a prolific writer/editor who
was almost always uncredited throughout his comics
career although he did get credit—on the covers,
yet—for the infamous Great Society and Bobman and
Teddy “adult” political satire comic books from 1966.
Arneson is also known to have co-created (with artist
Tony Tallarico) the first African-American comic-book
character with his own title—Lobo, a black cowboy with
two issues from Dell in 1965–1966. What is not known
is how many—and which—issues of Dark Shadows he
wrote beyond the first one.
One anomaly that we know Arneson wrote is Gold
Key’s Dark Shadows Story Magazine # 1 (June 1970),
essentially a 144-page pulp-style magazine, with a text
story written in the style of the comic and featuring a
number of single-color illustrations by Joe Certa, artist
on the comic. Both Arneson and Certa are credited here
for the first and only time on any Dark Shadows project.
That ad-free first comic book (Mar. 1969), though,
with the epilogue pages, came out costing a quarter
at a time when most comic books had just jumped to
15 cents, but it also came—as did various Gold Key
titles around that same time—with a full-color fold-out
poster, in this case of Barnabas Collins.
That first issue makes a nod to series continuity in
that the witch, Angelique, is referred to as Cassandra
Collins, a name the character was using on TV as the

very unlike his daytime TV counterpart. Willie Loomis, the series. Numerous stories were built around all-new,
Barnabas’ Renfield-like servant on the show, appears made-up-for-Gold-Key Collinses including Mordecai,
in the first issue but is never seen again. Angelique Halperin, Tarkington, Constance, Cheshire, Tobias, and
flits around occasionally as a ghost witch and young Lenore. Barnabas often interacts with them in flashbacks
David Collins appears on one cover but never in the or via actual time-travel, a bit of a nod to one of
book itself. Nowhere to be seen were TV mainstay the series’ tropes, in which past time, parallel time,
characters such as Vicki, Maggie Evans, and even future time episode arcs often occurred.
Carolyn Stoddard, Christopher Jennings, In the early issues Barnabas is a vampire,
Gerard Styles, Nicholas Blair, Daphne but then isn’t. Then he’s a vampire again,
Harridge, Burke Devlin, or dozens with no explanation given. Is Dr. Hoffman
Children of more. With the exception of only attempting to cure him, or is Angelique
one or two issues, the book might taunting him? We’re never shown,
the Damned as well have been entitled Barnabas one way or another. In the beginning,
Collins Comics and Stories. though, Barnabas clearly has no
(left) A redheaded
With the comic only being qualms about killing to protect the
Angelique bewitches published quarterly until issue #13 secret of his being undead, and yet we
(Apr. 1972), more than 50 TV episodes never see him biting anyone. In the very
the splash page of would pass over the airwaves first story, he attempts to permanently
Dark Shadows #15’s between issues and there was simply silence a young girl. Then, in issue #2
no way to keep up with the show’s joe certa (Aug. 1969), he determines early on
(Aug. 1972) “The complex and constantly changing to murder a fire investigator and
Night Children,” storylines. Without many of the TV his female assistant. “My secret must
characters and their continuity to fall back on, the comic be preserved… they must perish together!” The girl
with art by Joe stories generally consisted of tales built around all-new is apparently extremely skittish as she simply hears a
Certa. (right) That characters, with whom the writers could do whatever noise behind her and faints. “She didn’t see me,” says
they wished. Both Wally Green and Merrie Spaeth Barnabas. “I must do away with her before he gets
issue’s cover. indicated that they were never given any guidelines or back. The pier! They will find her in the morning!
restrictions by Dan Curtis Productions, which produced The victim of a tragic accident while out walking in the
night! Nothing will point to ME!” Fortunately for her,
the dawn breaks and her friend arrives looking for her
before Mr. Collins can do away with her.
By the way, Barnabas was saying all this aloud.
He talks to himself a lot in this series. He also runs a
lot. While the TV series may have been set-bound,
it was rare that the comic series offered an issue set
at Collinwood, preferring instead to have Barnabas
running here and there all the time. One finds it hard
to imagine actor Jonathan Frid running at all, let alone
as much as four-color Barnabas does!

Yet it isn’t Frid in the comic. Outside of a very
few panels here and there, Barnabas looks nothing
like the striking-looking thespian who developed
the character into TV’s favorite romantic anti-hero of
the day. Likewise, the other characters in the comic
resemble their character types but not really the actors
who played them. Only Elizabeth, played on-screen
by Hollywood veteran Joan Bennett, is occasionally
recognizable here on paper.
When handsome, dark-eyed gothic cliché hero
Quentin arrives, he does resemble actor David
Selby a bit, but only for his first appearance, after
which his trademark long sideburns give way to an
unrecognizable, unnatural-looking, long-haired look.
This is perhaps another indicator that the publisher
would have had to pay extra in order for the artist to
use actual likenesses of the performers.
That artist, by the way, from the beginning, was Joe
Certa. Although never a major player, he had started
in the industry as an assistant on Ham Fisher’s
Joe Palooka back in 1938. During World War II,
he drew his own daily newspaper panel about
the army, Private Will B. Wright. Certa was
probably best known for his work on DC’s
“J’onn J’onzz, Manhunter for Mars” series in
Detective Comics, of which he drew the entire
and Liz’s brother, Roger) when the two
run. Likewise, Certa would draw the entire run
children knock at the door ostensibly
The Dark
of Dark Shadows, aided and abetted by what
seems to be various inkers from time to time, looking for their lost dog. With their Shadows/
possibly including, according to different sources, Gold large, innocent, sad eyes à la the once-
faddish paintings now known to have been done by
Dr. Strange
Key regulars Sal Trapani, George Roussos, and Frank Bolle.
Although never a flashy artist, Joe Certa was a Margaret Keane, the night children, Andras (actually the “Crossover”
craftsman who knew his job and was adept at panel-to- Grand Marquis of Hades) and Cali (really the Queen of
Demons), easily seduce Barnabas into accompanying Writer John Warner,
panel storytelling. He took the scripts he was given and
issue after issue transformed them into a series of enjoyable them out into the night, where they quickly build a with artist Certa,
reads, no matter whom the writer may have been. stone altar on which to sacrifice him to the morning
With the exception of a few filmed establishing shots, sun. Then they return to Collinwood, telling Liz that snuck the Eye of
the TV Dark Shadows was recorded entirely on videotape Barnabas told them to wait there. The guests are Agamotto (and
and mostly on indoor sets, thus giving it a certain, easily hypnotized and subdued, and the kids go looking for
recognizable visual “look.” In the comics, it’s Certa’s art Quentin, locked in a deep cellar to avoid the curse Clea, too) into Gold
that provides a very different yet similarly identifiable of the full moon that changes him into a werewolf. Key’s Dark Shadows
look and feel. One fan, writing online about the series, But Quentin chases them until they return to the
said, “I remember seeing Certa’s Dark Shadows artwork darkness. Barnabas awakens before dawn and turns into #34 (Nov. 1975).
as a child and I’ve forged a lifelong connection to it.” a bat—as vampires sometimes do—to go after Quentin. (inset) Marvel’s
Dark Shadows was one of the last projects Certa had in But first he encounters Angelique and some very creepy,
comics before moving into commercial art, as many of Wizard of Oz-like flying monkeys! When he finally finds Master of the Mystic
the veteran comics artists did in time. He died in 1986. Quentin, they duel until beset by skeletal flying wraiths.
Arts, as rendered
The only other artist associated with the series was Quentin turns back to normal and is finally seduced by
the prolific painter, George Wilson. After the first seven the night children. Barnabas manages to save Quentin by fabulous Frank
issues featured photo covers utilizing various publicity and they leave Angelique and the demon kids behind in
the other-dimensional underworld, after which Quentin
Brunner.
stills, most of the rest presented painted images, a Gold
Key trademark, done by Wilson, who was kept very then has to save Barnabas from the sunrise, all before Dark Shadows TM & ©
busy for several decades doing such work for Dell, showing up back at Collinwood, where Liz offers a Dan Curtis Productions.
Gold Key, and also Classics Illustrated, all while churning cheery greeting and probably some morning coffee. Dr. Strange TM & © Marvel.
out Harlequin romance paperback covers, too. A small Pretty heady stuff for a comic book advertising
still of Jonathan Frid’s face continued to appear next Sea Monkeys, construction equipment model kits,
to the title. Toward the end of the run, a few penciled and Disney iron-on transfers. And there were a lot of
covers by Certa turned up, but mainly it was Wilson’s potentially nightmare-causing issues like that one.
suitably dark images that attracted potential buyers. Toward the end, though, the series was throwing
Although Gold Key prided itself on its family- anything at the wall to see what might stick, with
oriented comics, some of their “mystery” stories in Barnabas encountering not just witchcraft but medieval
titles like Ripley’s Believe It or Not, Grimm’s Ghost Stories, sorcerers, other-dimensional monsters, and ancient gods.
or Dark Shadows, could get pretty dark at times, oddly Martin O’Hearn notes something particularly odd
at contrast with the kids’ joke pages often found in the in Dark Shadows #34 (Nov. 1975): an unofficial tie-in
issues. One particularly unsettling issue is Dark Shadows to Marvel’s Dr. Strange. In the story, credited to John
# 15 (Aug. 1972), entitled “The Night Children.” Warner, an evil wizard who had fought Barnabas a few
The story opens with a windblown Angelique on issues earlier escapes a dimension in which he is trapped
some otherworldly plane, assigning two demonic by exiting through a mystical Eye (of Agamotto) into
children to destroy Barnabas Collins and Collinwood. a sanctum where a woman (Clea) calls for “Stephen.”
Liz is throwing a dinner party (whose only guests are It’s a fun, throwaway gag, even though it seems to have
the series recurring cast of Barnabas, Stokes, Hoffman, slipped past everyone for decades until Martin noticed it.

ken bald
© Luigi Novi / Wikimedia Commons.
Frightful Funnies
Original Ken Bald artwork
for the (top) July 1, 1971
and (bottom) December
12, 1971 Dark Shadows
daily newspaper strips.
Courtesy of Heritage.
In the end, while Gold Key’s Dark Shadows comic book can be the werewolf, mummy, and Frankensteinian variety. Roy Thomas and
an enjoyable experience all its own, it has to be said that it bears little Marie Severin are credited—or blamed—for the parody.
resemblance to its TV parent. In most ways, neither does the Dark Shadows Gold Key had never been one to let the cancellation of the show
newspaper strip that ran for a year between March of 1971 and March that inspired a particular comic cause them to cancel the comic.
of 1972. Overseen by Elliot Caplin (brother of Al Capp) and possibly Presumably, the thinking was that series fans would continue to buy
written by Howard Liss, the seven-day-a-week strip utilized even fewer the comic books as reminders of the series they had once enjoyed.
members of the television series’ rich cast than the comic book, with By the time of Dark Shadows’ final issue, however, #35 (Feb. 1976),
Carolyn becoming a major player but everyone else except Barnabas, Gold Key’s sales weren’t what they had been, and the title simply stopped,
Angelique, and Elizabeth ignored. Like the comic book, though, there ending with Barnabas, Quentin, Elizabeth, and someone who appears
was no attempt to tie-in all that much to the TV continuity. to be Professor Stokes, all smiling as they enjoy a meal at Collinwood.
One way in which the strip does look more like the series is visually. Vampires being undead, however, the Dark Shadows TV series has
Artist Ken Bald (signing here as “K. Bruce”), a veteran of another TV been revived several times, the originals have been big hits on DVD,
strip, Dr. Kildare, excelled in photo-referenced art so in the papers, there was a feature film with Johnny Depp, both the Gold Key series
Barnabas always looked exactly like and the newspaper strip have been given prestige reprints, and all-
Jonathan Frid (even if there were quite a new Dark Shadows comic books have appeared, first from Innovation
few reused images throughout the run). in the 1990s and more recently from Dynamite Entertainment.
Wallace Wood is said to have helped out Looks like nothing has ever been able to keep that ol’ stake in Barnabas
on the strip, but I don’t see any obvious Collins for very long. Unlike Dracula, he may not be a Count,
sign of that. I do see traces of what looks but let’s face it, when it comes to pop-culture
like possibly Ernie Colón ghosting a few vampires, Barnabas Collins… counts!
of the strips.
As popular as Dark Shadows was, [Editor’s note: For more Dark Shadows, see
it’s surprising that neither MAD nor RetroFan #11’s interview with David “Quentin
Cracked did a full-scale parody. That was Collins” Selby, and the forthcoming issue #17 for
left to Marvel. As the Comics Code relaxed an interview with Angelique, actress Lara Parker.]
its rules about vampires, Marvel was
finally able to get in on it, in the form of a STEVEN THOMPSON is Booksteve of Booksteve’s
TM & © Marvel.
spoof, appropriately in the comic entitled Library (http://booksteveslibrary.blogspot.com)

Spoof, issue #1 (Oct. 1970). Barnabas is and a dozen other blogs. He has written for
seen as a TV vampire, alongside Quentin Fantagraphics, TwoMorrows, Yoe Books, Bear
and various other classic monsters of Manor Media, and Time Capsule Productions.

At one time the top comics publisher, Dell’s comics line was fading
away by the early 1970s. The industry was changing during what
we now call the Bronze Age of Comics, with newsstand presence
eroding for old-time four-color “funnybooks.” Comics were also
experiencing maturation and sophistication of subject matter,
a far cry from the much-bandied wholesomeness banner that
Dell had so proudly waved. In the 1980s, Western Publishing’s
Gold Key Comics similarly discontinued its comics line. The era
of the photo cover TV tie-in comic book was no more.
This article will present a brief survey of the final TV tie-ins
produced by those venerable companies. One series, Gold Key’s
Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, is worthy of a deeper examination
than is presented here and will be covered at length in a future
edition of BACK ISSUE.
THE END OF A DYNASTY:

DELL’S LAST TV COMICS
THE MOD SQUAD

#1 (June 1969)–8 (Apr. 1971)
(Note: Issue #7 reprints #1, and issue #8
reprints #2.)
© CBS Television Distribution.
This counterculture cop show, which

premiered on ABC on September 24, 1968,
by Michael Eury was part of the diet of social awareness
many of us grew up on, with other staples
including the film Billy Jack and Denny
O’Neil and Neal Adams’ award-
winning Green Lantern/Green Arrow comic. Executive-
produced by Danny Thomas and Aaron Spelling, The Mod
Squad featured a trio of troubled young people—a rich white
rabble-rouser, a black activist, and an aimless flower child—and
recruited them for undercover work tackling topics that were
plaguing society, from poverty to drug-running to racism. Part
of a new trend of programs prominently featuring an African-
American star, The Mod Squad enjoyed a 124-episode, five-
season run (scoring in Nielsen’s top 25 during three of those
seasons) and lots of merchandising. Its legacy endured, inspiring
a 1979 TV reunion movie and a 1999 film reboot.
Of the final Dell TV tie-ins surveyed here, The Mod Squad was
certainly the jewel in the publisher’s crown. It perfectly captured
the attitude of the television show (just imagine Austin Powers
reading aloud issue #1’s cover blurb of “Danger is their bag!!”),
and the stories’ gritty environs, combined with its street-
smart young characters and action, adapted nicely to comics.
Serviceably illustrated by Jose Delbo (possibly working over
scripts by D. J. Arneson), each Dell Mod Squad issue featured
two stories per issue, with the type of plots you’d see on the TV
show: drug smuggling, stolen cars, rigged boxing bouts, plane
hijackings, etc.
During the TV show’s original run, The Mod Squad was lampooned
in comic-book form in MAD and Marvel’s Spoof.
Fonz Faces Front

Original cover art to Gold Key’s Happy Days #5
(Nov. 1979), by Art Saaf, the title’s only issue not
featuring a photo cover. Courtesy of Heritage Comics
Auctions (www.ha.com).
Happy Days © Paramount Television.

THE BRADY BUNCH
#1 (Feb. 1970)–2 (May 1970)
“Here’s the story of a lovely lady…” Some of us

know the lyrics to the Brady Bunch theme better
© Paramount Television.
than we do the National Anthem. From Gilligan’s
Island creator Sherwood Schwartz, The Brady Bunch,
the iconic sitcom about a blended family, kicked
off its five-season, 117-episode run on ABC-TV on
September 12, 1969, airing its last new episode on
March 8, 1974. The Bradys’ dog Tiger may have
mysteriously disappeared after the first season,
but the show itself never went away, immediately
moving into syndication, followed by an animated cartoon and numerous
continuations and movies (see RetroFan #10 for a full listing). The Brady
Bunch might very well be television’s most rebooted series ever!
As such, it’s mind-blowing to consider that this TV classic inspired only a
mere two issues of a comic book. Released early into the show’s first season,
Dell’s Brady Bunch featured four eight-page stories per issue, delightfully
drawn by Jose Delbo (with practical approximations of stars Robert Reed,
Florence Henderson, and fellow cast), with the same sort of wholesome,
canned-laughter-type humor you’d find on screen. It would’ve been fun to
have witnessed this series blossom, allowing its characters and their storylines
to grow along with its child actors (affording us an eventual Johnny Bravo
cover, perhaps) instead of sputtering to a halt after its oh, so brief run.
Did you know that one of the Brady kids made a DC Comics appearance?
Greg Brady himself, actor Barry Williams, was featured in a one-page
personality profile in the teen title Binky #78 (Apr.–May 1971), then going
through its Archie clone phase (see BACK ISSUE #107). Bizarrely, the single
image of the handsome young heartthrob was manipulated to the point
of being non-recognizable.
A final Brady comic was issued by Western Publishing in 1976. The Brady
Bunch Kite Book, a half-sized promo comic about kite safety, also
featured Reddy Kilowatt and was distributed by major utility companies.
The creative team of The Brady Bunch Kite Book is unknown, although
cartoonist/comics historian/all-around swell guy Scott Shaw! offers this
Mod and Groovy conjecture: “Looks like Bill Zeigler [art] to me. As for the writer, Don
(top) Linc is Christensen or Vick Lockman would be my guess.”
recruited in Dell’s
Mod Squad #1. THE COURTSHIP OF
EDDIE’S FATHER
Art by Jose Delbo. #1 (Jan. 1970)–2 (May 1970)
(center) Teen fave
Barry “Greg Brady” “People let me tell you about my best friend…”
Williams drops in Many BACK ISSUE readers probably remember this
© MGM Television.
show’s bouncy theme song by Harry Nilsson—

on DC’s Binky #78 which I’ve just earwormed into your head for the
in 1971. (bottom) rest of the day—more so than any of the show’s
episodes. Based upon a 1963 movie rom-com
From 1976, that adapted Mark Toby’s 1961 novel of the same
name, The Courtship of Eddie’s Father was about
The Brady Bunch a precocious young boy’s matchmaking attempts to guide his widowed
Kite Fun Book. father down the aisle once again… although as the show progressed its
plots began to instead favor the deep bond between its father and son.
Mod Squad © CBS Television
With Brandon Cruz stepping into the title role originally played by Ronny
Distribution. Binky TM & ©
DC Comics. Brady Bunch ©
Howard on screen, Courtship, with future Incredible Hulk star Bill Bixby as the
Paramount Television.
dad-you-wish-you-had, ran three seasons and 73 episodes, from September
17, 1969 through March 1, 1972. (Fun but useless trivia: Bixby’s character
was Tom Corbett, not to be confused with the fictional Space Cadet and
real-life former Pennsylvania governor of the same name.)
Writer D. J. Arneson, one of Dell’s powerhouses and a Dell editor,
and artist Carl Pfeufer, produced the two Courtship comic issues,
each featuring multiple short stories. While the premise of Eddie’s
matchmaking was occasionally present in the stories, the comic
generally meandered into routine kid’s story terrain, with tales of
struggling with grades and trips to the circus not reflecting the charm
brought to the TV series by its amiable stars.

Magic and Tragic
(left) Nanny’s
powers on display,
from Nanny and the
Professor #1. (right)
The teen survivors
pull together in
The New People #2.
Nanny and the Professor
© 20th Century Television.
The New People © CBS
Television Distribution.
NANNY AND THE THE NEW PEOPLE

PROFESSOR #1 (Jan. 1970)–2 (May 1970)
#1 (Aug. 1970)–2 (Oct. 1970)
Clocking in at the unusual length of 45
minutes per episode, The New People,

This family sitcom, a contemporary TV

Mary Poppins seasoned with dashes which ran for a mere 17 episodes, from
of Bewitched and The Sound of Music, September 22, 1969 through January 12,
starred Juliet Mills (sister of Disney star 1970, had a distinguished pedigree, being
Hayley Mills) as an au pair with veiled developed by Twilight Zone and teledrama
paranormal abilities, hired by a widowed pioneer Rod Serling (see RetroFan #11
college educator Richard Long (fresh off for his biography) for co-producer Aaron
the Western drama The Big Valley) to help Spelling. A contemporary Lord of the Flies,
raise his three kids (and requisite family dog). Premiering mid- The New People chronicled the struggles
season on ABC on January 21, 1970, Season One’s 15 episodes of “Teenagers… Marooned Forever” on a South Pacific island
were followed by a full Season Two and 15 more for Season after their plane crashed there, with the adults perishing.
Three, concluding mid-season on December 27, 1971. Mills’ This was no dark, teenage Gilligan’s Island, though, as The
magical performance captivated audiences, and the show’s New People’s tropical environment included an eerily deserted
subtle supernatural elements, including a restored Model A Ford mini-city that was constructed for an aborted government
whose radio could only tune into the 1930s, were charming bomb test. Despite its hip, young cast riding TV’s wave of
(merchandisers thought so, flooding the shelves with Nanny counterculture programming, The New People died a quick
and the Professor View-Masters, Colorforms, paper dolls, and death—although its spirit was resurrected by ABC in 2004 with
books), but by its abbreviated final season veered too close into the premiere of Lost.
Bewitched territory—including the addition of shark-jumping This cool, creepy premise with hotheaded, argumentative
Aunt Henrietta to its cast—to keep it fresh. Still, after cancellation teens clawing for survival was tailor-made for the comics
the show lived on—twice—in animated form as part of The ABC medium, and who better to realize it into four-color comicdom
Saturday Superstar Movie (which we’ll explore one of these days than Joe Gill, the rapid-typing prolific scribe of countless Silver
in our sister publication, RetroFan). and Bronze Age funnybooks, and stalwart storyteller Frank
Artist Jose Delbo (uncredited, working with an uncredited Springer. Gill and Springer produced two Dell New People
writer, possibly D. J. Arneson) once again delivered crisp issues, each containing two 16-pagers, adroitly steering the kid
storytelling and recognizable likenesses in Dell’s pair of Nanny castaways through squabbles, sickness, sabotage, and a stalker.
issues, each featuring four stories. Here, the show’s original (Both issues would later be reprinted in Mexican knockoffs.)
formula worked, with Nanny’s subtle magic nicely translating While the creative team “got” the series and added enough
to comics. Plots included weather-predicting tree frogs, Nanny elements of mystery to sustain readers, the second issue was
communicating with animals (move over, Doctor Doolittle!), released ten days after the TV show’s cancellation, and with no
a gnome taking residence in the home, and the family magically viable tie-in to sustain it Dell quickly marooned The New People
vanishing. to comics limbo.

like issue #3’s “The Mad Bomber,” seemed stale by comparison, while
ROOM 222 the heart and humanity brought to the screen by the talented actors
fell flat on the four-color page, such as issue #1’s “Tarnished Star,”
#1 (Jan. 1970)–4 (Jan. 1971)
about a troubled school athlete. Jack Sparling illustrated each issue’s
(Note: Issue #4 reprints #1.) two tales, only occasionally paying heed to celebrity likenesses.
As the ink was drying on federal legislation

mandating US public school integration, THE YOUNG LAWYERS
along came this half-hour ABC entry set at the
fictional Walt Whitman High School, an urban #1 (Jan. 1971)–2 (Apr. 1971)
melting pot of races and opinions, to help the
nation ease through this cultural transition Perry Mason-meets-The Mod Squad, The
via family-friendly drama and laughs. The Young Lawyers featured veteran actor Lee
Emmy-winning Room 222 took its title from J. Cobb as a Boston barrister who recruits
the classroom number of American history teacher Pete Dixon (Lloyd a pair of cutting-edge young attorneys (a
Haynes), a sympathetic, with-it instructor that a lot of us who secretly third was later added) to represent poor
read comics during history class wish we had instead of the nap-inducers and downtrodden clients and to take on
we were saddled with. (We also wanted a teacher as cute as Karen abusive parties such as slumlords as the
Valentine.) Subject matter dealt with student and teacher problems, NLO (Neighborhood Law Office). The series’
covering everything from war protests to women’s lib to gay rights, as action came from street-level snooping while
well as modern twists on old themes, such as the school musical (Let’s do on those cases and from personal drama. Premiering on ABC on
a nudie musical!) and the school newspaper (Let’s start an underground September 21, 1970, The Young Lawyers aired a single season,
paper!). The brainchild of Hollywood visionary James L. Brooks, who ending its run on March 24, 1971, after 24 episodes.
also brought us TV trailblazers like The Mary Tyler Moore Show and The Any card-carrying member of comics fandom realizes that
Simpsons, Room 222 premiered September 11, 1969 and ran through courtroom dramas—even ones with a groovy urban vibe like The
January 11, 1974, spanning five seasons of 113 episodes. Young Lawyers—translate poorly to the comic-book page. That is why
Teens and social relevance were hallmarks of comic books of Marvel Comics publishes Daredevil, the Man without Fear instead of
the emerging Bronze Age—everyone from Spider-Man to Batman Matt Murdock, Attorney at Law. So when Dell was scooping up hip
encountered young rebels, and Wonder Woman and the Teen Titans new TV shows for its comic-book docket, The Young Lawyers must
hung up their tiara and capes and became more street-savvy during have seemed like a good fit. Once again Jose Delbo was tapped for
those turbulent times. With such torn-from-the-headlines material illustrative jury duty, but this one didn’t seem to inspire his best work.
exploding across the spinner racks, Dell’s Room 222’s similar content,
THE YOUNG REBELS

#1 (Jan. 1971)
You’re forgiven if you don’t recall this short-

lived ABC hour-long drama. The Young Rebels,

a Revolutionary War-era adventure starring
youthful freedom fighters, only mustered
a half-season of 15 episodes, walloped on
Sunday nights by its network competitors The
Wonderful World of Disney and Lassie during its
September 20, 1970–January 4, 1971 short
lifespan. Possibly accelerating the show’s
brisk cancellation was its timing. In 1970, period pieces, Westerns,
and even rural sitcoms were being purged for metropolitan-set
dramas and comedies. While The Young Rebels gave lip service to
the drama du jour with its mixed-race cast and shaggy-haired stars,
its Yankee Doodle message was lost upon an audience more primed
for Midwestern working girls who were gonna make it after all.
Dell tried to trick readers into picking up the first (and only) issue
of this tie-in, its cover copy screaming “Revolution!” in an attempt
to snag Beatles and counterculture fans. Once again, Jose Delbo was
enlisted, drawing the issue’s two 16-page stories, “Phantom Army”
and “Greek Fire.” But like its host TV show, The Young Rebels was
essentially a comic book no one wanted to read. The market’s other
Revolutionary War title, DC Comics’ Tomahawk, was at this same time
undergoing a “revolution,” with incoming editor Joe Kubert ordering
life-support measures by introducing a long-haired young protagonist,
Hawk, and rebranding the frontier book as Son of Tomahawk.
Jock Around the Clock

Pete Dixon laments his failed attempts to get through to
a troubled high school sports star in Room 222 #1. Art by
Jack Sparling.

THROWING AWAY THE (GOLD) KEY:
WESTERN’S LAST TV COMICS BUCK ROGERS IN THE
25TH CENTURY
© Robert C. Dille/Universal Television.

#2 (Aug. 1979)–16 (May 1982)
ADAM-12 (Note: Issue #1, unrelated to
#1 (Dec. 1973)–10 (Feb. 1976) and predating the TV show, was
published in 1964.)
Don’t dismiss Adam-12 as just another cop
show. It was trailblazing in its depiction of
Producer Glen A. (Battlestar Galactica) Larson’s
© Universal Television.
police procedures and its establishment of

extraordinarily good-looking actors as boys Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, an
in blue… and for humanizing cops during updating of the classic comic strip that had
a climate of distrust and charges of police previously been adapted to other media,
brutality. Co-created by Dragnet’s Jack Webb was part of the surge of sci-fi cinema that trailed 1977’s mega-
(whose Sgt. Friday was the King of Square hit Star Wars. Its pilot movie was theatrically released on March
Cops) and existing in a Los Angeles shared 30, 1979, earning a respectable $21.7 million at the box office.
universe with that series and Webb’s Emergency!, Adam-12 took Gil Gerard starred as the space hero from 1987 whose disabled
viewers along on patrol with officers Malloy (Martin Milner) and Reed craft Ranger 3 placed him in suspended animation for over 500
(Kent McCord) and their cases, which ranged from routine traffic years, awakening in a future rife with Disco-era sexiness and
stops to filmed-on-location car chases to major crime busts, generally glitter glam (and post-Star Wars cute little robots, in this case
with multiple cases occurring each episode. Premiering on NBC-TV Twiki, spared from being cloyingly ingratiating to anyone past
on September 21, 1968, Adam-12 enjoyed a seven-season run of 174 grade school age by the coolness of being voiced by Looney Tunes
episodes, its last new episode airing May 20, 1975. legend Mel Blanc). A stranger in a strange land, Buck—abetted
By the time Gold Key’s Adam-12 launched in September 1973, by Wilma Deering (Erin Gray)—emerged as the champion of an
NBC’s Adam-12 was beginning its sixth season on the air and a slow slip Earth threatened by the sultry Draconian princess Ardala (Pamela
in the ratings (it was ranked 23rd in the annual Nielsens that season, Hensley). The concept was continued in a weekly, hour-long NBC
having scored in the top 12 the previous three seasons). The comic aptly television program that premiered September 20, 1979. Season
replicated the show’s procedural matters, the problem being, situations two, delayed by a screen actors strike, witnessed a soft reboot as
such as cops being sent on false alarms make better TV viewing than Buck, Wilma, and Twiki took to the cosmos on a space-spanning
comic reading. Occasionally, though, Gold Key’s Adam-12 spiced up mission, with several cast changes occurring. Buck Rogers in the
its visuals with more exciting fare such as motorcycle gang rumbles, 25th Century concluded its run at the end of Season Two with
satanic cults, and run-ins with escaped primates. episode 37 on April 16, 1981.
Writer Paul S. Newman and later, John David Warner, adapted the Gold Key’s Buck Rogers in the 25th Century was launched to build
series for comics, telling two stories per issue. Mike Roy illustrated anticipation to the premiere of the weekly TV series, its first issue
issue #1, which featured a photo cover, followed by Jack Sparling on (#2; see above note) going on sale three months before the show’s
issue #2; Sparling drew the remainder of the series. With issue #2, premiere and adapting the pilot movie in three monthly issues. The
the cover layouts shifted to a montage format of photos of the stars adaptation was penned by Paul S. Newman and illustrated by Frank
and Sparling comic art. Bolle (#2), Al McWilliams (#3), and Bolle inked by Jose Delbo (#4).
Calling One
Adam-12
An “exciting” scene
from Adam-12 #2.
Art by Jack Sparling.
(inset) Issue #3’s
(May 1974) cover,
showing a mix
of photos and
Sparling illos.
© Universal Television.

A few weeks after the premiere of the NBC series, issue #5 followed, featuring
original stories published on a bimonthly frequency. Paul S. Newman, Michael FAMILY AFFAIR
Teitelbaum, J. M. DeMatteis, and B. S. Watson were the series’ writers, with Al
#1 (Jan. 1970)–
McWilliams, followed by Mike Roy, on art. Painted covers by an unidentified
artist graced most issues, bearing strong likenesses to the series’ leads. Line art 4 (Oct. 1970)
© Don Fedderson Productions.

covers appeared on the final three issues, illustrated by Dan Spiegle (#14), Mike
Roy (#15), and Rudy Nebres (#16). Throughout its run, Gold Key’s Buck Rogers Executive producer Don
maintained the premise of the TV show’s first season. Fedderson’s Family Affair was
The comic was fraught with delays, at times with several months elapsing a delightful family comedy
between issues, and with issue #10 not being published at all due to distribution about a sophisticated
problems (although its story was eventually outsourced into a couple of Manhattan playboy who,
international editions). Despite those problems, Gold Key’s Buck Rogers in the overnight, becomes a father
25th Century actually outlived the last new episode of the TV series, ending figure to his orphaned teenage
with its 16th issue, released in early April 1982. niece and her young twin
sister and brother. (Major domo Mr. French was also
in residence to allay viewer concerns about children
residing with an unmarried man.) Bowing on CBS on
September 12, 1966, the series was at first envisioned
as a starring vehicle for its urbanite “Uncle Bill,” Brian
Keith, who transitioned from movies to television for
the role, but the adorability of the kids, especially
moppet twins Buffy and Jody, became the series’
draw. Family Affair was a ratings smash, Nielsen’s #5
most popular show for Seasons Two through Four. It
concluded after a five-season, 138-episode run, airing
its last new episode on March 4, 1971. (See our sister
mag RetroFan #10 for an interview with Family Affair’s
teenage Cissy, actress Kathy Garver.)
The show was in its third season by the time Gold
Key brought it to the comics racks for a four-issue
run, published quarterly and featuring three to five
stories per issue. If you’re a fan of TV’s Family Affair,
you’ll enjoy the comic books. Each issue captures the
charm of the show, with simple, yet endearing, stories
such as a planned surprise birthday party for Uncle Bill,
the kids’ fear that Mr. French would be leaving their
household, and the kids’ dislike of Uncle Bill’s latest
girlfriend… and don’t forget the collectible photo
covers! The writer of Family Affair is unknown, but Sal
Trapani and Jack Sparling were its artists, sometimes
illustrating stories solo and other times working as a
team (Sparling pencils with Trapani inks).
THE GOVERNOR
AND J.J.
#1 (Feb. 1970)–
3 (Aug. 1970)
CBS-TV’s The Governor and J.J.

featured a widowed, stuffy,
conservative Midwestern
governor named William
Drinkwater (an obvious wink
to Senator Barry Goldwater)
and his ersatz first lady, his daughter Jennifer Jo (J.J.), a
liberated, and liberal, groovy young woman. The father
and daughter rarely saw eye-to-eye on affairs of state
Jody and J.J.

(top) Jody is a reluctant dancer in Family
Affair #4. (bottom) The “first lady”
consults the zodiac for guidance in
The Governor and J.J. #2.
Family Affair © Don Fedderson Productions. Governor and J.J.

but always were bonded by their deep familial love.
Debuting on September 23, 1969, the comedy was
cancelled mid-season during Season Two, ending its
run on December 30, 1970, after 39 episodes.
Of all the TV tie-ins covered in this article, The
Governor and J.J. is, from my perspective, the biggest
oddity in the lot. No kid plopping down a dime and
nickel for a Gold Key funnybook in 1970 would select
a comic about a TV show they probably didn’t watch,
especially one whose plots involved humdrum topics
like political speeches and re-election campaigns.
Writer Paul Newman tried his best to translate the show
to comics, but in the process J.J., portrayed on screen
with sharp comedic timing by the charismatic Julie
Sommars, was simplified for the comic, characterized
as childish instead of chic. The artist is unknown, but
possibly Henry Scarpelli.
HAPPY DAYS
#1 (Mar. 1979)–
6 (Feb. 1980)
One of the biggest

television hits of the 1970s,

Happy Days, ABC’s sitcom
about idyllic white American
teen and family life in the
mid-1950s through mid-1960s,
premiered as a mid-season
replacement on January 15,
1974 and ran an astounding 11 seasons, concluding on
September 24, 1984, with enough episodes (255!) to
rock around the clock in syndication for years to come.
Spinning off of a February 1972
skit on the anthology comedy
Love, American Style, Happy
Days started rather modestly,
centering around an Archie
Andrews-esque high schooler
named Richie Cunningham,
played by Ron (formerly Ronny)
Howard, the carrot-topped kid
audiences watched grow up as
Opie on The Andy Griffith Show.
But when show producer Garry
Marshall tweaked its format in
Season Two, giving more of
the spotlight to Henry Winkler’s
tough-but-kindhearted greaser headliner starting with his dominance of issue Ayyy!
Fonzie, “The Fonz” became #1’s photo cover and its blurb, “Four Hilarious
its breakaway star and a teen Adventures with THE FONZ and Friends!” Bill The Fonz gives
heartthrob and the show’s Williams is attributed as the Happy Days artist, Gold Key’s Happy
ratings rocketed, reaching #1 in the 1976–1977 season although its interior art was simplistic with little regard
and spawning popular spinoffs including Laverne & for actor likenesses. Photo covers dominated the series Days comic book
Shirley. Happy Days began a slow slide its fifth season except for issue #5, which featured an illustration by a thumb’s up in
as Fonzie, decked in swimming trunks and his leather Art Saaf shown at the beginning of this article.
jacket, infamously made a water-skiing leap over a Happy Days’ popularity was weakening by the time this promo. (inset)
shark in a tank, a ludicrous stunt that added “jump the Gold Key snagged the license; had the series been
The cover to Happy
shark” to the pop-culture lexicon to describe a long- released earlier, when the show was a ratings smash,
running program’s negative turning point. The sitcom it might very well have lasted longer than six issues Days #6.
didn’t age well in its later seasons, particularly once Ron and been accompanied by comics featuring spinoffs
Howard defected and new cast members were added. Laverne & Shirley and Mork & Mindy.
Still, in its prime Happy Days was an endearing, sharply
written and acted ensemble show, the zenith of a craze Special thanks to BeachBumComics.blogspot.com,
of 1950s nostalgia that swept the 1970s. BlogintoMystery.com, The Complete Directory to Prime Time
Being a hit with kids as well as adults, Happy Days Network TV Shows 1946–Present (Ballantine Books, 1980)
was a logical choice for a comic book. Each issue’s mix of by Tim Brooks and Earle Marsh, Diversions of a Groovy Kind,
short stories starred different members of the cast, with Mark Evanier, The Museum of Uncut Funk, Scott Shaw!, Steven
a bias toward Fonzie, who was unmistakably the comic’s Thompson and Four-Color Shadows 2.0, and TVObscurities.com.

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by Mark Arnold
Sid and Marty Krofft got their start as puppeteers, situation with the costumes for the show: “The costumes Krofft Komics
with Sid, the older brother by eight years, getting his were lying in the middle of the room, still in their
start on the Vaudeville stage and later with Ringling dry-cleaning bags. Lying on top of one another, it was (left) Gold Key’s Banana
Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus during the not easy to make anything of them other than their Splits #1 (June 1969),
1940s. His initial show, “The Unusual Artistry of Sid color. It was quite a mountain of cloth, about four feet
Krofft,” was eventually performed around the world. high and a 4x6 heaping rectangle. I’m not going to the Hanna-Barbera
By the 1950s, the brothers started working together, pretend that I can remember who took out which Saturday morning
and in 1957 debuted a more adult puppet show costume and put it on, but I can say that in just a few
called Les Poupées de Paris, which was a success for the minutes, we determined who would be which character. live-action show
brothers throughout the 1960s. Many of the puppets My brother Danny became the lion (Drooper) because developed in conjunction
included were modeled after popular celebrities of its costume was the tallest. My brother Jeff took the
the day including Judy Garland and Sammy Davis, Jr. green dog (Fleegle), maybe because it was kind of a with Sid and Marty
The show was popular enough to warrant a chartreuse color that had always given him a hard Krofft Productions.
soundtrack album as well, as exclusive performances time (all three of my brothers are color blind). That left
at many World’s Fairs, including the 1962 Seattle me with the orange one, a gorilla named Bingo. (center) Charlton’s
World’s Fair, the 1964–1965 New York World’s Fair, The fourth was an elephant named Snorky. Snorky Bugaloos #1 (Sept. 1971).
and the 1968 San Antonio HemisFair. The main was not played by a brother. Hanna-Barbera hired
character of the HemisFair was a dragon character from within, and brought in a guy named Jimmy
Cover art by Frank
named Luthor, which Sid and Marty later retooled Dove. It was a promotion from the Xerox room.” Roberge. (right) Kaptain
into the character better known as H. R. Pufnstuf. The Banana Splits, as with most Hanna-Barbera
But before Pufnstuf became a show, Hanna- properties during the 1960s, had its own comic-book
Kool and the Kongs,
Barbera Productions contacted Sid and Marty and series published by Western Publishing through its Bigfoot and Wildboy,
asked them if they could design some character Gold Key line. Eight issues were published from 1969
costumes for a new live-action Saturday morning TV to 1971, as well as a March of Comics giveaway in
and more Krofft
series, loosely based upon The Monkees and Rowan 1971. All feature photo covers depicting the colorful kraziness on the photo
and Martin’s Laugh-In. The show was originally animal costumes that the Banana Splits wore as
cover of GK’s Krofft
christened The Banana Bunch, but after some issues designed by Sid and Marty Krofft. The comic books
with some other group with that name, the show are credited to Don R. Christensen as the writer and Supershow #1 (Apr. 1978).
and the group became The Banana Splits. Jack Manning as the artist.
All © Sid and Marty Krofft Productions,
Terence H. Winkless, in his book From the Inside: Christensen worked for almost every classic an- except Banana Splits © Hanna-Barbera
My Life As Bingo of the Banana Splits, explained the imation studio as an animator before transitioning Productions.

into comics initially as an artist, but later as a writer, books featuring Disney, Warner Bros., Walter Lantz, and
Award-Winning writing for virtually every title published by Gold Key. Hanna-Barbera characters. He also drew newspaper comic
Producers Later on, he also was a scriptwriter for TV animation strips featuring Bugs Bunny, Ella Cinders, and Little Lulu.
studios such as DePatie-Freleng and Hanna-Barbera. The TV series was so successful that a theatrical
(below right) Sid
Jack Manning drew many Disney, Warner Bros., Walter feature film called Pufnstuf was released in 1970. The
and Marty Lantz, and Hanna-Barbera comic books for Western movie featured comedienne Martha Raye as Boss
Krofft, Lifetime Publishing from the 1950s to the 1980s, and also Witch. She so enchanted the Kroffts that they decided
worked directly for Hanna-Barbera from 1959– to cast her in the starring role of Benita Bizarre
Achievement Award 1967, during the studio’s golden years. in their next TV series, The Bugaloos, which
winners, at the The success of The Banana Splits on debuted in the fall of 1970. [Editor’s note:
TV prompted Sid and Marty Krofft to Columnist Andy Mangels explores TV’s
45th annual Day- take a stab at their own series, which H. R. Pufnstuf in RetroFan #16, on sale
time Emmy Awards, premiered in the fall of 1969. Utilizing soon from TwoMorrows.]
the dragon character from the Hemis- Also in 1970, Sid and Marty Krofft
April 29, 2018. Fair, they retooled him into a friendly became involved with the Needham,
(below) Opening dragon who was the Mayor of Living Harper and Steers ad agency. The
page to Banana Island. A boy named Jimmy shipwrecked agency had contacted the Kroffts because
upon the island and he is rescued by of their great success with The Banana
Splits #1. Script by Pufnstuf before the evil Witchiepoo Splits and H. R. Pufnstuf, and asked
Don R. Christensen, can capture him. Jimmy never returns them if they would be willing to work
home. An eight-issue comic-book series don r. christensen with their client, McDonald’s, in order
art by Jack Manning. from Gold Key was also produced, plus to expand their hamburger chain
(inset) The Splits an issue of March of Comics in 1971. 1982 photo by and courtesy of Alan Light. characters from solely Ronald
Don R. Christensen was again credited as the writer, McDonald to an entire McDonaldland world populated
starred in this issue but art this time was handled by Roger Armstrong, and with various costumed characters similar to what they
of March of Comics. once again all covers were photo covers. had with their other popular TV shows.
Roger Armstrong was a funny-animal artist that The problem was, the ad
Photo: Sidandmartypictures.
Banana Splits © Hanna-
worked for Western Publishing from the 1940s agency claimed that after the
Barbera Productions. through the 1980s, and also drew many comic Kroffts agreed to work with
them, the ad campaign was
cancelled. This turned out
to be untrue and Needham
instead went ahead without
the Kroffts, and instead hired
some ex-Krofft employees
and created their own
McDonaldland that was more
than vaguely reminiscent of
the Krofft characters.
The new McDonaldland
campaign was launched in
January 1971. As a result,
the Kroffts found it difficult
to license new products
featuring their H. R. Pufnstuf
characters and by September 1971, a lawsuit was filed.
The lawsuit went to trial in November 1973. Jurors
were shown episodes of H. R. Pufnstuf and various
McDonaldland commercials for comparison’s sake.

Who’s Your Friend When
Things Get Rough?
(left) Photo cover to Gold Key’s H. R. Pufnstuf
#1 (Oct. 1970). (right) Opening page to
“Witch Switch” by Don R. Christensen
and Roger Armstrong, the last Gold Key
Pufnstuf tale to be published. From the
final issue, #8 (July 1972).
© Sid and Marty Krofft Productions.
The Kroffts were particularly concerned about the

similarities of H. R. Pufnstuf to Mayor McCheese as they
were both mayors of their respective lands. The court KROFFT-RELATED COMIC BOOKS
ultimately ruled in favor of the Kroffts for $50,000.
Both the Kroffts and McDonald’s appealed, and in
CHECKLIST
October 1977 they still voted in favor of the Kroffts
and awarded them a further million dollars in copy- • The Banana Splits #1 (June 1969)–8 (Oct. 1971), Gold Key
right infringement based upon the fact that Needham • Banana Splits March of Comics #364 (Dec. 1971), Western
had originally consulted with the Kroffts and then
rejected them, and used their ideas with some of their • Ronald McDonald #1 (Sept. 1970)–4 (Mar. 1971),
ex-employees without any direct involvement or Charlton
compensation. McDonald’s redesigned the characters
and eventually dropped them altogether in 2003, • H. R. Pufnstuf #1 (Oct. 1970)–8 (July 1972), Gold Key
excepting the occasional use of Ronald. • H. R. Pufnstuf March of Comics #360 (1971), Western
Amazingly, there was a four-issue Ronald McDonald
comic-book series from Charlton, featuring artwork by • The Bugaloos #1 (Sept. 1971)–4 (Feb. 1972), Charlton
Bill Yates. None of the other McDonaldland characters • Lidsville #1 (Oct. 1972)–5 (Oct. 1973), Gold Key
appear, as this series predates their TV debut. There
were a couple of McDonaldland Comics that appeared • McDonaldland Comics #101 (1976)–102 (1976),
later on in 1976 that featured all of the characters, McDonald’s Corporation
but they were also unsuccessful.
Bill Yates was a cartoonist who drew comic strips • Krofft Supershow #1 (Apr. 1978)–6 (Jan. 1979), Gold Key
and gag cartoons. Strips he worked on included Little

Iodine, Benjy, Redeye, and his own Professor Phumble. He also edited The series lasted two seasons and 29 episodes, which made
Dell’s 1000 Jokes, Ballyhoo, and For Laughing Out Loud. Later on in his it Sid and Marty Krofft’s most successful series so far due to its
career, he became a comic-strip editor for King Features Syndicate. longevity of new episodes, as it was the first series to be renewed
Meanwhile, the Bugaloos were a manufactured music group for a second season.
created in the same vein as other successful TV bands such as the Land of the Lost ended up being Sid and Marty Krofft’s most
Monkees and the Partridge Family in primetime and the Archies and successful Saturday morning series, lasting for three seasons and
the Banana Splits on Saturday mornings. The Bugaloos were, in fact, 43 episodes. Though Lost was heavily merchandized, a comic book
touted as the British version of the Monkees and were portrayed by strangely never turned up. Perhaps it was due to the similarity in theme
four humans wearing insect costumes: a grasshopper, a bumblebee, to other comic books attempted by Western Publishing and Charlton
a ladybug, and a butterfly. A movie was scheduled, but cancelled, but that had middling success like ones for Hanna-Barbera’s similarly
there was a soundtrack album. Gold Key took a pass on this series, themed Valley of the Dinosaurs and Korg: 70,000 B.C., which came out
and so four issues were produced by Charlton, with artwork by Frank at roughly the same time and only lasted a handful of episodes and
Roberge. It was the only time Charlton published a comic-book series comic-book issues [both series will be explored next issue—ed.].
based upon a Sid and Marty Krofft series. The story of Land of the Lost has a family of three travelers named
The next Krofft TV series, as well as the next comic-book series, Rick Marshall, his son Will, and his daughter Holly. They are on a
was Lidsville. It starred Butch Patrick, best known for portraying Eddie river raft that takes a precarious turn and goes over a waterfall and
Munster on the 1960s sitcom, The Munsters. Here, he portrays Mark, actually travels back through time, where the family encounters
who witnesses a magician portrayed by comedian Charles Nelson dinosaurs and other strange creatures, such as the Sleestaks and the Zarn.
Reilly and falls into his magic hat, ending up in a land of hat (“lids”) They also befriend some characters such as Cha-Ka. Many of the charac-
people. Lidsville, like Pufnstuf and ters drift in and out of the show
The Bugaloos, only made a single via time doorways, which were
season of 17 episodes that were a sort of elevator-looking booth.
repeated in succeeding years. In the show’s third season,
The Gold Key comic book was due to a contract dispute, father
less successful, only lasting five Rick was replaced by Will and
issues during 1972–1973. [Editor’s Holly’s Uncle Jack by having Rick
note: See RetroFan #6 for a Butch transport out and Jack transport
Patrick interview.] into the series.
The next few Sid and Marty The stories of Land of the Lost
Krofft shows did not have a were a notch above those typically
corresponding comic-book series, written for Saturday morning, and
but they were Sigmund and the many of the episodes were written
Sea Monsters (1973), Land of the by writers who had written
Lost (1974), Far Out Space Nuts for the original Star Trek,
(1975), The Lost Saucer (1975), such as David Gerrold, D. C.
and Krofft’s first primetime Fontana, and Walter Koenig,
series, Donny and Marie (1976). and other writers in the science-
Most of these shows were fiction field like Larry Niven,
instantly forgettable, which is Theodore Sturgeon, Ben Bova,
probably why there were no and Norman Spinrad.
comic books, but it is surprising Land of the Lost was also
that Land of the Lost did not have remade as a TV series in 1991,
one. There was a comic book by and as a comedy/parody feature
that name published by EC from film starring Will Ferrell in 2009.
1946–1948, but it had nothing Far Out Space Nuts was kind
to do with Krofft’s TV series. of an updating of Gilligan’s
Sigmund and the Sea Monsters Island in space. Indeed, Bob
told the story of two boys, Denver was hired to portray
portrayed by Johnny Whitaker Junior, a similar character to
and Scott Kolden. They live near a Gilligan, despite his graying hair.
beach and discover a lonely sea His buddy this time, was not
monster named Sigmund, who portrayed by Alan Hale, Jr.,
has been ousted by his sea who portrayed the Skipper,
monster family, so they take but instead portrayed by the
him in, but they have to keep similarly plump Chuck Mc-
Sigmund a secret from their Cann, who played Barney.
housekeeper Zelda, who watches They had an outer-space creature
after the boys. In the second sea- aboard named Honk, who spoke
son, comedian Rip Taylor joins the only in honking sounds. The
cast as Sheldon, the sea genie, in an three bumbled through a series of
attempt to add a character similar outer-space adventures, replete
to H. R. Pufnstuf’s Witchiepoo and with pratfalls and other physical
Lidsville’s Weenie the Genie. bits of business. Fifteen episodes
were produced.
Far Out Space Nuts was
You Want Fries with That? repeated later on the Krofft Supershow, but more on that later.
The Lost Saucer was a kind of a riff on the 1960s sitcom It’s About
Issue #1 (Sept. 1970) of Charlton’s Ronald McDonald. Time, but instead of two astronauts getting lost back in the time of the
dinosaurs, it’s two outer-space people portrayed by Jim Nabors and
Cover art by Bill Yates. Ruth Buzzi, who get lost in their travels and end up on Earth. It’s kind
© McDonald’s. of a Lost in Space in reverse.

The Lost Saucer was also repeated later on the Krofft
Supershow.
Most of these Sid and Marty Krofft shows only lasted
a season of new shows and were then repeated. For the
next Krofft series, Sid and Marty turned their attention
toward primetime, and for three seasons had the
successful Donny and Marie, starring singing siblings
Donny and Marie Osmond. The other Osmond brothers
turned up frequently, including youngest brother Jimmy.
Also turning up on episodes were guest appearances
from former Krofft regulars such as H. R. Pufnstuf
and Witchiepoo. The series had the typical variety
show format of the time: Donny and Marie sang a lot
of songs, interspersed with silly sketches featuring
many campy guest stars like Paul Lynde, Vincent
Price, and Rip Taylor, and occasionally a few more
serious ones.
The next Krofft series that also spun off into a comic
book was The Krofft Supershow. Supershow was an
anthology series comprising various shorter segments
similar to the initial Saturday morning show that the
Kroffts were involved with, The Banana Splits. Like the
Splits, the show was hosted by a rock band, although
this time they weren’t wearing full-body costumes.
Instead, on the first season, they were a sort of a gaudy
glam-rock band called Kaptain Kool and the Kongs,
and on the second season, a more toned down, less
garish version of the group. Other segments on the first
season were Dr. Shrinker, ElectraWoman and DynaGirl
[see RetroFan #8—ed.], Wonderbug, and reruns of The
Lost Saucer. For the second season, Shrinker and Electra
Woman were dropped and replaced with Bigfoot and
Wildboy [see RetroFan #14], and Magic Mongo. There
was supposed to be a third season, but Kaptain Kool
and the Kongs were replaced by real, live rock band (as
opposed to fabricated) the Bay City Rollers.
Six issues of The Krofft Supershow were published by
Gold Key during 1978–1979, the final Krofft show to
be honored with a comic-book series.
TV and comic-book writer Mark Evanier worked
for Sid and Marty Krofft for a number of years and has
this to say about his employers: “I respected their
commitment to production values, to getting the best
sets, the best costumes, the best dancers, the best
everything. It was occasionally trying, as some of the
shows that the networks coerced them into doing
were more than challenging, but it was never, not for a
moment, dull. I was a big fan of Krofft TV before I got
to work with them. I found them brilliantly imaginative, Their most recent series was called Mutt and Stuff, Winged Wonders
and fiercely loyal to their people. which aired on Nickelodeon from 2015 to 2017, with
“I loved the fact that they worked with everyone in 73 episodes produced, the most ever for a Krofft series, Production cover for
show business,” Evanier continues. “If you mentioned surpassing Donny and Marie’s 70 episodes. Charlton’s Bugaloos
Frank Sinatra, they had a Frank Sinatra story. If you Sid and Marty Krofft received a Saturn award in
mentioned Liberace, they had a story about Liberace.” 2002, a TV Land award in 2009, a Lifetime Achievement #3 (Jan. 1972).
Sid and Marty Krofft also had a theme park briefly Emmy in 2018, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of
Cover art by
in 1976 and 1977, called the World of Sid and Marty Fame in 2020, all for their extensive contributions to
Krofft, which was housed inside of an office complex in daytime television over the past 60 years. They are Frank Roberge.
Atlanta, Georgia. After the park’s failure, the building still active as a team to this day, and are planning
© Sid and Marty Krofft
remained largely vacant, until it eventually became the new series of Land of the Lost,
Productions.
headquarters for CNN in 1987. ElectraWoman and DynaGirl,
Shows debuting after this by Sid and Marty Krofft H. R. Pufnstuf, and Sigmund
include The Brady Bunch Hour (1977; see RetroFan and the Sea Monsters.
#10), The Krofft Superstar Hour (1978), Pink Lady and
Jeff (1980), Barbara Mandrell and the Mandrell Sisters MARK ARNOLD is a pop-culture
(1981), Pryor’s Place (1984), D.C. Follies (1987), and historian with over 15 books to
others outside the scope of this article, especially his credit on subjects ranging
since no comic books from any of these shows were from the Monkees, the Beatles,
Underdog, Pink Panther, Cracked,
forthcoming. The majority of these later shows
Disney, Dennis the Menace, and
followed in the same footsteps as Donny and Marie—
more. He is currently at work on
variety shows with lots of singing and second-rate another Disney book and a book
comedy skits and campy comedy stars. on the history of MAD.

by Mark Arnold
Kornpone In 1967, two semi-popular comedians hosted a special Flash forward to 1969. Laugh-In is firmly on top
that featured a rapid-fire series of jokes and gags, of the ratings, and another show that also debuted
Komedy many dating back to the days of vaudeville. It in 1967 is also doing well, The Smothers Brothers
Original donkey seemed like an idea destined to fail as the jokes were Comedy Hour. However, after two years of back
sometimes ancient chestnut groaners that many had and forth between the Smothers Brothers and
cel from Format heard multiple times before, but the special presented CBS censors, CBS pulled the plug on the Comedy
Films’ animated these well-worn jokes in such a unique and colorful Hour in June 1969 and replaced it with a simpler
way that the show became an immediate hit, and harmless show for the summer months. It was
sequences for and ultimately it was rewarded a weekly TV series. called Hee Haw.
television’s Hee Haw. That series was called Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In, Hee Haw was created by Frank Peppiatt and
or Laugh-In, for short. The show was popular enough John Aylesworth, two Canadian writers and
Courtesy of Heritage to last six seasons through 1973. producers who admitted being inspired by Laugh-In
It was also popular enough to launch a spinoff series to create their show. Laugh-In creator George
Comics Auctions
called Letters to Laugh-In, a huge line of merchandise Schlatter felt that Hee Haw directly stole his idea,
(www.ha.com). such as lunchboxes, wastebaskets, and toys, plus books, but both shows have a common origin from vaudeville
a comic strip, and a monthly magazine. Strangely, and other stage performances that told both corny
Hee Haw © Gaylord Program
there never was a Laugh-In comic book. and bawdy jokes.
Services, Inc.

A Redneck ‘Laugh-In’
(top) Issues #1 and 11 of Charlton’s
Hee Haw magazine. (bottom) Original art
(presumably by Frank Roberge) for a
one-pag gag from Hee Haw #5 (Apr. 1971).
Courtesy of Heritage.
© Gaylord Program Services, Inc.
Instead of everything being “hip and mod,”

Hee Haw would be much more rural, with settings on
a farm or in a cornfield, or in small, rundown homes.
Instead of two comedians heading up the fun,
two country musicians were selected. According to
Ken Burns’ Country Music documentary TV series,
host Buck Owens was selected to represent the
Bakersfield sound, while co-host Roy Clark was selected
to represent the Nashville sound, both popular centers
for country music during the 1960s.
Hee Haw featured much more music than Laugh-In.
Laugh-In experimented with musical guests during
its first season, but they were abandoned by the
second. Hee Haw, on the other hand, would attract
virtually all of country music’s top performers, from
Loretta Lynn and Tammy Wynette to (much later)
Garth Brooks. The music performances by these
stars would be done straight, unlike the rest of the
show, but these stars would also participate in some
of the sketches and tell corny old jokes along with
the rest of the cast.
As for the cast, Hee Haw presented many stalwarts
of the Grand Ole Opry such as Minnie Pearl, Grandpa
Jones, Stringbean, and
many others, who had
already been doing basically
the same comedy acts since
the 1930s and 1940s. As
time went on, newer and
younger cast members
were also added, such as
George Lindsey, who came
in character as Goober, a
character he first portrayed
on The Andy Griffith Show
and later on Mayberry
R.F.D. Plus, there was a
goodly assortment of
pretty and shapely women
on the show such as Barbi
Benton, Misty Rowe, and
(much later) Irlene Mandrell,
collectively known as the Hee Haw Honeys. The
Honeys were so popular, they got their own spinoff
show for a time in 1978.
There were many, many recurring sketches on
Hee Haw, and it became common knowledge that
they would record an entire season in just a few
weeks at the beginning of each year, doing a number
of cornfield gags, then a number of barnyard gags,
etc., all at once, that were clipped and edited to
appear once per episode.
The Wikipedia page about Hee Haw mentions
at least 60 different recurring sketches, with some of
the most popular being “Pfft, You Was Gone,” a
duet where both participants get sprayed by a verbal
raspberry by song’s end; “KORN News,” corny news
items delivered by Charlie Farquharson (Don Harron);
“The Culhanes,” a family of four and their boring

soap-opera life; “Samples Sales,” where Junior Samples But Hee Haw had the last laugh. Syndicated shows
portrays a shady used car dealer; “Gloom, Despair and were nothing new, and the creators of Hee Haw
Friends of Lulu Agony on Me,” where a quartet sings about their decided to try their hand at continuing the show in
Lulu Roman, that is. miseries; “Empty Arms Hotel,” where Roy Clark answers first-run syndication. The idea paid off handsomely.
complaints from a hotel guest; “Archie’s Barber Shop,” Not only was Hee Haw a popular show in syndication,
Four of Charlton’s where Archie Campbell trades jokes with various it continued on with new episodes until 1993, and a
customers; “Hey Grandpa, What’s for Supper?,” where few more on TNN during 1996 and 1997! The Lawrence
seven Hee Haw
Grandpa Jones gives examples of Southern cooking Welk Show was also a casualty of the rural purge,
issues: (top) #1 he’s preparing; and “Pickin’ and Grinnin,’” featuring despite being on ABC, and it, too, tried its hand at
the entire cast in a sing-a-long. Many of these sketches syndication. It proved popular in syndication as well,
(July 1970) and 4 appeared in every episode for years and years and years! and the Welk Show and Hee Haw ran back-to-back in
(Feb. 1971). Hee Haw turned out to be a surprise hit and ran on many markets for over a decade. In some markets,
CBS through 1971, when it and a number of other rural- Welk and Hee Haw competed for ratings. The network
(bottom) Hee Haw themed shows including The Beverly Hillbillies, Green decisions that led to their respective cancellations
#6 (June 1971) and Acres, and Mayberry R.F.D. were all cancelled in favor were the inspiration for a novelty song called “The
of more “relevant” shows such as All in the Family and Lawrence Welk-Hee Haw Counter-Revolution Polka,”
the final issue (Aug. The Mary Tyler Moore Show. This mass cancellation performed by none other than Roy Clark.
1971). Cover art by became known as the rural purge. [Editor’s note: Read Hee Haw as a comic book was at least popular
more about the rural sitcom purge in the latest issue enough to have not just one, but two print incarnations,
Frank Roberge. of RetroFan, #15.] Many of these cancelled shows still both published by Charlton. The first was a magazine
© Gaylord Program Services, Inc. had huge ratings, ratings that CBS would kill for today. that was similar to the aforementioned Laugh-In
magazine. Even though it had some spot illustrations,
it was mostly black-and-white photos captioned
with word balloons containing the type of corny
jokes that one would usually see on the show, similar
to Marvel’s Monster Madness magazine but with
country humor and photos of the Hee Haw stars and
images of the Format Films-animated animal cartoon
characters that appeared on the show rather than movie
monsters. (Format Films was the same animation
studio behind The Alvin Show and a 1960s animated
version of The Lone Ranger.) There were also song
lyrics printed for the most popular country music
songs of the time. The magazine lasted for 17 issues,
published sporadically from May 1970 through
December 1974.
Virtually at the same time, Charlton also published a
standard format color comic book which lasted seven
issues from July 1970 through August 1971 (cover
dates). The drawings were of unfortunately off-model
caricatures of Buck Owens, Roy Clark, Lulu Roman,
Junior Samples, Grandpa Jones, and Beauregard the
Wonder Dog surrounding a donkey on issue #1’s cover.
Art was by Frank Roberge (1916–1976). Roberge
was the artist of the Mrs. Fitz’s Flats comic strip for
Mort Walker as well as many of the Hanna-Barbera
comic books also produced by Charlton during the
early 1970s [which will be explored in depth next
issue—ed.]. Other issues featured artwork by Tony
Tallarico (b. 1933), who produced many many
comic-book stories, usually for Charlton, Dell, and
Harvey’s Thrillers, and also did work for Cracked, Sick,
and Marvel’s Crazy magazine.
Many of Charlton’s Hee Haw color comic books
touted the line, “That CBS Television Hit Show.”
For text articles, a joke page or occasionally a page-
long biography of one of the Hee Haw stars was
usually featured.
What made Hee Haw so popular over the years?
Pretty much it’s because that many corny old jokes
are timeless. Since Hee Haw never tried to be topical,
the material and the situations still remain fresh
today. Plus country music, thanks to Ken Burns’
documentary series for public television, is more
popular than ever, and on many occasions Hee Haw
had the only live performance of some songs by the
original artists captured on film and video.
Though many of its stars have now passed on, Hee
Haw still remains popular to this day thanks to DVD
releases through Time-Life Video, reruns on RFD-TV,
and the timelessness of Hee Haw’s jokes and format.

Thrilling spy stories in the James Bond fashion! Adventures
with exotic locales spanning the globe! Short, action-packed
adventures interspersed with sidesplitting gags and humor.
How could this not be the one of the greatest TV adaptations
ever to come to comics?
Well…. the cherry on top of this madcap banana split is
TM the fact that all the characters are chimpanzees. And that’s
the unique brilliance and the ultimate madness of Gold
Key’s Lancelot Link. Secret Chimp comic.
THE BANANA DOESN’T FALL FAR FROM

THE TREE
Lancelot Link can trace his lineage back to two comedy
writers, Mike Marmer and Stan Burns. They were longtime
comedy veterans, having collaborated early in their careers on
The Knickerbocker Beer Show, a 40-minute (!) 1950s comedy
show that would later morph into The Steve Allen Show.
They prospered, contributing to shows like The Smothers
Brothers, The Flip Wilson Show, and Get Smart. [Editor’s note:
Among his many other credits, Marmer went on to be a
contributing writer to 1979’s Legends of the SuperHeroes
by Ed Catto live-action specials, which teamed Adam West as Batman
and Burt Ward as Robin with other DC superheroes (see BI
#25 for the story).]
And at the end of the ’60s, America was still going
bananas over the “spy craze.” James Bond and a plethora
of imitators had successfully infiltrated cinema, paperbacks,
and TV. Even the spy parody Marmer and Burns contributed
to, Get Smart, would run five seasons.
One can only imagine how Marmer and Burns’
conversation with network executives must have gone.
From today’s vantage point, it seems inconceivable that a
pitch meeting was as simple as, “Let’s do a spy parody for
Saturday morning… but with monkeys!”
ABC’s Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp debuted in September
of 1970. Episodes were broken up into two distinct
ten-minute segments. Lancelot Link was an hour long
and included old Warner Bros. cartoon shorts from the
desperate last years of their old animation division.
Lancelot Link was rerun again the following year as a part
of ABC’s Saturday morning lineup, but this time in a half-
hour format. This trimmed-down version was how it was
presented in syndication.
Lancelot Link sparked several licensed products, including
a coloring book, a View-Master set, two lunchboxes, Ben
Cooper Halloween Costumes, and then, in 1971, a wonky
eight-issue Gold Key comic series.
MONKEY SEE, MONKEY DO

The comics, like the show, were an insane jumble
of monkeys, hackneyed humor, and over-the-top
goofiness thrown together into a delicious comic-book
banana crème pie.
The Lancelot Link comic adapted the “characters” as
faithfully as possible. Each character was essentially a spy
trope with which the nation, including children, had quickly
become familiar. The heroes included:
Chimps vs. C.H.U.M.P.

Gold Key’s Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp #1
(May 1971), one of the defining moments of
the Bronze Age of Comics. (No, I made that up.
Still, it’s a cool comic.)
© ABC.

• Commander Darwin is the leader of the good guy spy organization, A.P.E.
(the Agency to Prevent Evil), following in the tradition of Bond’s M and
Get Smart’s Chief.
• Lancelot Link is the hero, presumably the best spy in A.P.E., although fans would
be forgiven if they believed him to be the only spy of A.P.E. Clad in a traditional trench
coat, that version of spying was more in line with Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca
than the suave suit-wearing spying of the day. Strangely enough, on TV Lancelot
spoke with in pseudo-Bogart style, although it didn’t translate into the comic.
• Mata Hairi is the female sidekick, à la The Avengers’ Emma Peel or Get Smart’s Agent
99. Lacking in sexuality (hey, she is a chimp, after all!), she routinely has a nagging,
grating voice, setting up Lancelot for punchlines.
The rogues’ gallery made a successful transition from the small screen to the comic
pages. The Baron is the leader of C.H.U.M.P., the evil spy agency. His associates,
more placeholder archetypes than fully imagined characters, include: the Dragon Woman,
Wu Fang, Ali Assa Seen, Dr. Strangemind, the Duchess, and the Baron’s chauffeur, Creto.
The narration for Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp was another special part about the
series It provided a serious-as-a-heart-attack tone for each adventure. The narrator was
It Takes a Thief’s Malachi Throne. (He played Robert Wagner’s boss in that caper series.)
[Editor’s note: Holy trivia! Throne also played False Face in Season One of TV’s Batman.]
The comic was, understandably, unable to translate this element to the printed page.
COVER APPEAL
Each cover of Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp showcases photos of the chimpanzee actors,
with cover copy such as “IT’S A BITE TO THE FINISH WHEN CHUMP (sic) PLAYS FALSE
WITH MATA’S TEETH!” Several covers do not even feature the titular character, Lancelot
Link, but instead spotlight his co-star or his antagonists.
Most covers also proudly display the logo of the good guy secret agent organization,
A.P.E. Displaying a secret organization’s logo on comics might hamper the secret part
of it all, but hey, it’s all in fun, anyway.
While the photo covers add a touch of realism—that’s a prickly word choice in
a Lancelot Link article—one can’t help but wonder if illustrations could have better
captured the true zany spirit of this property.
MONKEYING AROUND
The stories in the Gold Key Lancelot Link comics are more fun than a barrel of monkeys.
Many of the stories employ that standard spy cadence of the day. Lance Link and Mata
Hairi would be summoned by their boss, who would brief the characters of the matter
at hand… helping the audience understand it all too.
The kooky premises may have been really meant to show the strong creativity that
the C.H.U.M.P. plotters employ. They are big dreamers—you have to give them that.
Their plans, always foiled by A.P.E., include:
• highjacking an ocean liner

• controlling Chief Rain Cloud, whose rain dance can actually cause rain
• attempting to steal a Moon rock from a space capsule landing in the ocean
And to their credit, C.H.U.M.P. never seems to give up or relinquish their

nefarious plans!
JUST WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS?

The creative talents behind the Lancelot Link comic are lost to us today. You may
speculate it was out of the writers’ and artists’ shame—and few would disagree.
But one artist’s unique style was able to break through the inherent silliness of
the Lancelot Link premise: Mike Sekowsky. His contorted figures, clever-but-crowded
panel arrangements, and oversize ears all point to his participation. It seems clear he
contributed to the art of several stories, although there is no firm verification.
CHIMPIES
Laser-Sharp Wit The Lancelot Link show leveraged several short segments in addition to the main
adventures to round out the show. Today, many fans might think, “That’s just like the
(top) Opening page to Gold Key’s Lancelot old Laugh-In TV show,” but in reality it harkens back to even older vaudeville, radio,
Link, Secret Chimp #1. Writer and artist and TV shows.
One segment from the series that crossed over to the Gold Key Lancelot Link,
unknown. (bottom) Page from Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp is “Chimpies.”
Secret Chimp #6 suspected to have been In both incarnations, “Chimpies” were short (one-pagers in the comics) segments:
drawn by former Justice League of America
• Some featured two chimpanzees, Joe and Freddie. They were dressed in loud
and Wonder Woman artist Mike Sekowsky! vaudeville-style suits, although it’s hard to believe any kids understood that
© ABC.
dated reference.

Fabulous
Photo Covers
Collectors go…
ga-ga (and maybe
even ape) over
Lancelot Link,
Secret Chimp’s
photo covers. Shown
here are issues #3
(Nov. 1971), 6
(Aug. 1972), and 8
(Feb. 1973).
© ABC.
• Other segments featured two chimpanzees named Sherman and Tragically (?), the Evolution Revolution never officially appeared in
Herman. They were a typical ventriloquist act, with the tired jokes the Lancelot Link Gold Key comics.
between the ventriloquist and his dummy. Of course, one tends to But in Lancelot Link #4 (Feb. 1972), in a tale titled “Face the Music,”
lose something when the chimpanzee is not really “talking” through Lance and Mata have a musical adventure that seems adjacently
his dummy (as all the Lancelot Link voices were dubbed in by inspired by the Evolution Revolution. As the story opens, the two
humans). And to take that one step further, the unique entertainment agents are perplexed as to why their boss Darwin is listening the “the
value of a ventriloquist is lost even more when it’s in a comic. worst rock band”: the Hornets.
Darwin reveals that he can’t understand how such a band gets
Well, at least the jokes were funny, you might say. You might on-air time. Convinced it must be a plot by the evil C.H.U.M.P.,
say that, but you’d be sadly mistaken. Gags in “Chimpies” include: he sends Lance and Mara undercover as rock band “groupies” to get
to the bottom of things.
JOE: What do you call it when one banana leaves the bunch? Lance changes the Hornets’ song lyrics to entrap C.H.U.M.P.
FREDDIE: You call it—a banana split! agents, and eventually saves the day. The adventure wraps up with
Darwin watching Beethoven music on the television, and Lancelot
JOE: How do you make a banana short cake? noting similarities to pop music. “Either way,” says Lance, “it’s all
FREDDIE: First you make a banana long cake, then you cut off long-hair music.”
part of it. We must remember, even James Bond, the most famous of
all secret agents (an oxymoron if there ever was one), was busy
SHERMAN: If you’re such a wise guy, which animal is the most bashing rock bands, too. Who can forget Bond’s famous line in
carefree? Goldfinger when 007, as played by Sean Connery, explains to Jill
HERMAN: Most animals get free care—from their mothers! Masterson that certain things just aren’t done, like drinking Dom
HERMAN: (additional punchline): Owls—they don’t give a hoot! Perignon at the wrong temperature or “listening to the Beatles
without earmuffs”?
BANANA-FLAVORED BUBBLE GUM POP: On the other hand, in the very first issue (May 1971) of Lancelot
THE EVOLUTION REVOLUTION Link, the comic series promoted another Saturday morning cartoon
One television segment that didn’t really make it to the comic was the band—the issue contains an ad for Josie and the Pussycat’s four
Evolution Revolution, the “house band” for the innovative Lancelot cut-out records from Kellogg’s cereals. Obviously, Josie lacked the
Link, Secret Chimp TV series. musical integrity of the Evolution Revolution, as she allowed Kellogg’s
The cartoon version of the Archies, debuting in 1968, popularized to put their logo on the group’s drum kit. Lancelot Link fans just know
the idea that the all-American teens from Riverdale played in a band. the Evolution Revolution would never sell out like that.
Incorporating many elements from director Richard Lester’s Beatles
film A Hard Day’s Night, the Archie Show cartoon was a hit. The Archies MONKEY BUSINESS
band produced songs like “Sugar Sugar,” “Jingle Jangle,” and “Feelin’ This thorough examination leads to the big question: Was Gold
So Good (S.k.o.o.b.y-D.o.o),” the latter song about being love with Key’s Lancelot Link, Secret Agent merely a silly, shticky parody of
a girl named Skooby-Doo, not the soon-to-be-famous animated dog. spy movies… or was it really an incredibly insightful and subversive
By the time Hanna-Barbera’s Scooby-Doo… Where Are You! and commentary on man’s plight in the world, cleverly told from a
Filmation’s The Hardy Boys burst on the scene in 1969 [see BI #107— point of view just one rung lower on the
ed.], it seemed like a musical element was mandatory for every evolutionary ladder?
Saturday morning show. Lancelot Link was no exception. Nah. It was a just a silly—but fun—parody
Each week, series leads Lancelot Link and Mata Hairi would join with monkeys.
Blackie and Sweetwater Gibbons to rock on as the Evolution Revolution.
The musical numbers were introduced by the chimpanzee version of ED CATTO is a marketing and start-up strategist, with
Ed Sullivan—Ed Simian. Ostensibly, the band’s songs provided secret a specialty in pop culture. As founder of Agendae, Ed is
coded messages for other A.P.E. secret agents. dedicated to helping brands and companies innovate
Most of the songs were co-written and performed by Steve Hoffman. and grow. As part of the faculty at Ithaca College’s
School of Business, Ed teaches entrepreneurial courses
The series’ musical director Bob Emenegger also contributed several
and one unique class focusing on comic conventions
songs. The creators revealed that their ah-hah moment came when
and Geek Culture. Ed’s also an illustrator, having won
they played the actual songs for the chimps. Somehow, the monkeys the 2019 Pulp Factory Award, and a retropreneur,
actually adjusted their faux playing to mimic the beat of the song. rejuvenating brands like Captain Action.

Landing a role in a television show, for most actors, is cause for celebration.
On occasion, an actor is surprised to have gotten a part, but will run with
the role and make it their own. And then there’s the rare instance of
an actor wondering why he or she has been cast as a certain character,
assuming that others would be more suited to the job than they are.
Robert Brown falls into that last category. Following a successful turn
as the character Jason Bolt in the ABC-TV series Here Come the Brides,
Brown found himself cast as the lead character in a new underwater
action show created by Ivan Tors and scheduled to debut in Fall 1971.
Primus focused on the adventures of Carter Primus, an oceanographer,
scuba diver, and all-around underwater adventurer. “The casting on
Primus was a surprise, because I was not that sort of boy,” Brown tells
BACK ISSUE. “I wasn’t an athlete and I hadn’t done anything like that.”
Now 93 and enjoying retirement in California, the actor at least was
no stranger to the water, having served in the United States Navy
in the Pacific in World War II. He later met and became friends with
William Shatner, a guy that Brown says had a Primus-like background.
“Honestly, Shatner was the one who was a good athlete… he enjoyed
diving and so forth. So he was a good guy to be around!”
Brown may not have had experience with diving, but he’d done
some swimming in his time. “My father was a butler, an Englishman from
London. He worked as a butler to wealthy American aristocrats. In the
summers, I lived at these great estates where he worked, in Bar Harbor,
Maine. They had great swimming pools [on the estates], and I swam
there.” Stand-ins did most of the underwater scenes for Primus, and by Douglas R. Kelly
Brown says he felt like a fish out of water, so to speak. “It was as though
I had to play, for example, Hamlet, but I didn’t speak English. It was that
strange a life. I’ve had other parts that I wasn’t really suited for, but I was
a nice-looking guy and I had good experience with various roles. I was
lucky to have the job, but I never felt comfortable in the role at all.”
He may not have settled into the part, but his run as Carter Primus
is remembered fondly by fans of the genre. The show’s premise
undoubtedly was familiar ground for producer Ivan Tors, who had
covered the waterfront during the 1960s as the producer of such shows
as Sea Hunt, The Aquanauts, and Flipper. Primus premiered as a first-run
syndicated series in September 1971, and Carter Primus and his team—
assistants Toni Hyden, played by Eva Renzi, and Charlie Kingman, played
by Will Kuluva—got to work troubleshooting underwater installations,
fighting bad guys, and generally enjoying Key West, Florida, and the
Bahamas, where the series was shot. The show depicted the team being
hired to render services ranging from thwarting a ring of international
thieves intent on stealing priceless jewels from an island museum, to
salvaging a sunken—but still very much live and dangerous—torpedo
before it can fall into the hands of enemy agents.
Along the way, the viewer is introduced to Primus’ oceanographic
inventions and devices, many of which are used for ocean rescues
and other types of missions. The stories told on the show were
imaginative, the underwater photography was as sharp as anything
seen on television up until that time, and Robert Brown did excellent
work in the title role, even if he doesn’t see it as a high-water mark
in his career. “I’m lucky to have survived it! I was a lucky young man
who made a living in a role that didn’t fit.”
The show’s decision makers may or may not have agreed. But either
way, they gave Primus the hook in spring 1972, after 26 episodes.
TV’s Latest Smash Makes a Charlton Splash

Charlton Comics went the photo cover route for the first
four issues of Primus, showing series star Robert Brown
in various poses. Unless otherwise noted, all art scans
accompanying this article are courtesy of Douglas R. Kelly.
Primus © Ivan Tors Productions.

DIVING IN
In 1971, Derby, Connecticut-based Charlton Comics was
given the job of creating a Primus comic book, and they
THE ONLY GAME IN TOWN
turned to a young Joe Staton to do the art chores. “I had Primus is an elusive quarry on the small
done a few stories, mostly ghost stories, but so far, none of screen. You won’t find it on Netflix or
them had actually been published,” says Staton. “But they
had Primus come in, a licensed property, and they took a Amazon Prime or Hulu, and the only DVD
chance on me. I had turned in the ghost stories promptly, source that your correspondent could
on their schedule, so I guess that’s why they got me to find is Belle & Blade, a New Jersey-based
do it. I think Primus actually was my first published comic,
even though it wasn’t the first work that I had done.”
provider of obscure video. They offer four
Primus #1 (Feb. 1972) featured a photo cover of star episodes of the series on DVD; the picture
Robert Brown, along with the pronouncement, “TV’s quality isn’t the best, but it’s Primus and
Latest Smash!” The three eight-page stories—along with it’s fun to watch. They’re at warshows.com;
the stories in all seven issues of the title’s run—were written
by Joe Gill. The first story in issue #1, “The Double Dealers!” phone is 973-328-8488.
introduces the series this way: “This is Carter Primus, the
global man. Inventor of DASH (deep sea habitat), the PUP
(Primus underwater propulsion vehicle), and the SSS (sonar
signal system). Primus roams the oceans of the world on
research and rescue missions, pitting his strength, skill,
and cunning against the forces of nature… and of evil!”
This first story opens with Primus saving the life of Lady
Lydia Mabry as she is about to be attacked by sharks while
swimming near her yacht. Primus later learns that the
attack was caused by a supposed friend of Lady Lydia’s,
a narcotics smuggler who is being tracked by French police
and INTERPOL. Primus gets more than he bargained for
as he tries to help Lady Lydia clear her name.
Following an implausible second story, the first
issue ends on a strong note with “The First Man of
the Sea.” Primus is called in by NASA to use his special
skills to rescue an astronaut, physicist Mason Gregg,
whose spacecraft has malfunctioned. The capsule
splashes down in the Black Sea, which is controlled
by the Soviet Navy, complicating Primus’ mission as
he races against time to keep the capsule, and the
physicist, from falling into Russian hands.
Both the first story and the third story have
interesting premises, but both seem rushed. Two
longer stories would have worked better, with more
pages for the plots to develop and play out.
Fortunately, issue #2 (Mar. 1972) goes that route.
The second story is an eight-pager that uses a couple
of plot shortcuts to cram everything in, but the opener,
“Where Killers Meet,” is 16 pages, and it uses the space
well in telling the story of a fleet of whaling ships that are
hunting and slaughtering endangered whales in the Ross
Sea in Antarctica. The story introduces Primus’ assistants,
Toni Hyden and Charlie Kingman, although for some
reason Charlie’s last name has become Whitman here in
the comic book. Toni and Charlie use Inca, one of Primus’
boats, as they try to stay one step ahead of the whale killers.
Staton in His Element

(top) This panel from Primus #1 shows artist
Joe Staton’s facility with air bubbles—an
often underrated but effective way to depict
the underwater environment. (middle)
Primus gets the girl(s) at the end of a story
in Primus #2. (bottom left) This panel from
Primus #3 demonstrates Staton’s ability to
capture facial likenesses. (bottom right)
Underwater fisticuffs in issue #7.

STORY DEVELOPMENT
Writer Joe Gill, who died in 2006, knew what he
wanted with the stories in Primus. “Joe would give me a
complete plot and script,” Joe Staton tells BACK ISSUE.
“Everything was there… dialog, art direction, and
everything. Joe would just sit down and write complete
scripts. He and Sal Gentile, the editor, pretty much [left
the art to me], as long as I stuck to Joe’s basic story.
Joe was a good, solid storyteller.”
Based on the four episodes of Primus that today are
available for viewing, Gill appears to have been pretty
faithful in adapting the show to the printed page. “For Joe,
it all clicked in his mind that an underwater adventurer
would also be involved in international spy adventures,”
says Staton. “Joe really followed up on Primus being an
international underwater adventurer.”
Staton doesn’t recall seeing Primus on
television prior to beginning his run on the
comic book. “I can’t say for sure. But I do
remember seeing several episodes as
we went along. They gave me a few
blow-up photos [of the actors], but I
didn’t have a whole lot of reference.
A lot of it was just kind of faking it.”
For the most part, despite an occasional
exception, Staton captured the
likenesses of Brown, Renzi, and Kuluva
quite well, and his accuracy improved
as time went on. “I put in a lot of
joe staton work trying to get Robert Brown’s
© Luigi Novi /
likeness right. Will Kuluva, too. I knew
Wikimedia Commons. who they both were… I’d seen Robert
Brown in Here Come the Brides, and
Kuluva had been around for years. So it wasn’t totally
out of the blue, I was familiar with them.”
Of course, rendering an underwater scene is a
different animal from depicting a scene on dry land.
Staton took advantage of two key characteristics in this
area. One was the way he used bubbles: when a diver is
swimming, or when a creature such as a whale is twisting
and turning, Staton drew the air bubbles and the surface
disturbance bubbles randomly, using varying sizes and
shapes within the bubbles’ “path.” It may seem a minor
detail, but it absolutely helps sell the idea that we’re
beneath the waves. The other underwater tool Staton
used was a greenish-blue color palette, which instantly
differentiated the underwater scenes from those up top.
“The coloring at Charlton was pretty basic,” says the
artist. “In the first couple of Primus issues that I did, I did
varying shades of colors for the different water depths,
and I made notes for them on what color the various
fish species should be… what color a barracuda should
be, for example. I was a little shocked when I got copies
of the books and basically, everything underwater was
green! So I realized there was no need to make notes on
underwater colors. Just go with green!”
Primus Cover Gallery

(top left) A hybrid photo/illustration treatment
graced the cover of Primus #5 (July 1972).
(top right) Staton hit his cover stride with
Primus #6 (Sept. 1972), the first issue for which
he drew 100% of the cover. (bottom) Joe’s art
combined with Charlotte Jetter’s superb lettering
made for a brilliant final cover for Primus.

After tangling with a crooked oil baron in Europe
in Primus #3 (May 1972) and ruthless treasure
hunters in Florida and South America in Primus #4
(June 1972), our scuba-diving hero finds himself
in the middle of an environmental dispute in issue
#5 (July 1972). “The Fire People” opens with
Primus surveying a lake in South America
to determine suitability for the
building of a hydroelectric plant.
When he stumbles upon a
secret civilization hidden in the
rim of the lake’s volcano,
he’s forced to balance the
region’s desperate need
for increased hydroelectric
power with the secret
civilization’s desire to
remain isolated from the
outside world.
The issue’s second story,
an eight-page affair entitled,
“The Crown of Minos,”
has Primus and Toni taken
prisoner and forced by their
captors to dive for sunken
treasure in the Aegean Sea.
COVER TREATMENT
Issue #5 also was the first to
feature a Joe Staton cover—
mostly. The covers of the first
four issues had been photo-
dominated affairs. “Sal Gentile
had been one of the editors of
[Charlton’s] magazine line, and
he liked doing photo collages,”
says Staton. “Those photo covers
for Primus were done by Sal.
But I had asked to do some of
my own covers, and I guess
it was a while before
they trusted me to do
that. But as I was turning
in the Primus work on time, they let me
go ahead with it, and I really enjoyed that.”
It shows. While Staton’s cover to #5 is a hybrid Primus’ Pals
photo/illustration—it was the first issue edited and Gals
by George Wildman following Gentile’s run—the Gill: “We were warned that number seven would
covers of Primus #6 (Sept. 1972) and Primus #7 be the end,” says Staton. “If you look on the last Carter Primus and
(Oct. 1972) are excellent examples of the artist’s page, in the last panel, you see Primus looking up his assistants Charlie
drafting and design abilities, even at this early at you and waving, and he knows that it’s the end.
stage of his career. The lead story in #6, “Death So we knew it wasn’t going to continue.” Whitman and Toni
is Waiting,” takes place in the waters off Nassau, How does he see his work on Primus today? Hyden, and E-Man and
Bahamas, and has Primus and Toni battling heroin “I got a shot at a regular book when I was just
smugglers, while the second story, “A Weapon starting out and they trusted me to do likenesses his gang, Nova Kaine
Used to Kill Whom?,” concerns the duo’s efforts to that had to be approved by the TV producers.
outwit a group of warring gamblers. Both stories
and Mike Mauser. Early-
Charlton trusted me on it, and I managed to
end with a kiss between Toni and Primus—a keep it going for seven issues. I have good 1970s cover art by Joe
romance that had been brewing for several issues. memories of Primus.”
And then came issue #7, the last in the series. Staton for the Mike
Given that the cover date is October 1972, the DOUGLAS R. KELLY is editor Main-edited fanzine
Charlton team likely had just gotten word that of Marine Technology
the Primus television show had been cancelled. magazine. In addition to FreeFall, submitted by Mr.
The first story in #7, “Crisis at 40 Fathoms,” BACK ISSUE, his byline
has appeared in RetroFan, Main to Jon B. Cooke in
finds Primus and Toni mixed up with a fanatical
Antiques Roadshow Insider, late 2000 for publication
millionaire’s scheme to draw the United States
Model Collector, Collecting
and the Soviet Union into war, and it’s a good Toys, and Buildings in Comic Book Artist #12.
yarn. In the second story, “The Saboteur,” Primus magazines. He grew up in
tangles with Soviet agents who are slashing the and around the water, but Our thanks to all!
nets of a fishing trawler. The story, and the series, Ivan Tors never even called him Primus © Ivan Tors Productions.
ends with a little “inside joke” from Staton and to read for the role of Primus. E-Man © Joe Staton.

HELP IS
ON THE WAY by Douglas R. Kelly
Staton to the Rescue Bing-bong-buuuuuuzzzzzzzzz. For those of us raised on Emergency!, that

“Squad 51, motorcycle accident with familiar triple buzz alarm and accompanying call
(left) The cover of issue #1 injuries… 11822 North Hillside, cross-street from the dispatcher is etched into our psyches.
(June 1976) of Emergency! got Vernon…time out 14:27.” The show revolved around two operations in
“Squad 51, KMG 365.” Los Angeles County, California: Fire Station 51
the Joe Staton acrylic and marker and Rampart General Hospital. Paramedics Roy
If reading that didn’t give you a chill down DeSoto, played by Kevin Tighe, and John Gage,
treatment. (right) The pick of the your spine, either you’re dead or you didn’t played by Randolph Mantooth, work with the
litter among the covers for Emergency!: spend an hour a week tuning in to the NBC firefighters at Station 51 as they handle calls
television series Emergency! from 1972 to involving everything from treating injuries at
Joe hit it out of the park with this 1977. Created by television legend Jack Webb, fire scenes to rescuing people stranded in deep
cover for issue #2! Unless otherwise with Harold Jack Bloom and R. A. Cinader, canyons or 100 feet in the air on construction
Emergency! made television history by being cranes. While many of the calls on which the
noted, all art scans accompanying the first series to realistically depict fire and team goes out involve serious—as in life and
rescue operations in the United States, an death—situations, others are of a lighter tone,
this article are courtesy of Doug Kelly. approach used by Webb on his police shows sometimes bordering on the wacky. In the
© NBCUniversal. Dragnet and Adam-12. Season Five episode “The Election” an artist

has encased her subject,
head to toe, in what she
calls a “life casting,” a
plaster and glue mixture
that has hardened and
entombed the man.
DeSoto and Gage have to
figure a way to get the guy
out while contending with
the belligerent artist, who
insists they not damage
her life casting.
In fact, the situations
depicted on the show
reportedly all were based
on actual incidents
taken from various fire
department logbooks
around the US.
Gage and DeSoto are
connected to the medical
team at Rampart General
Hospital via a radio
phone, which they use
to provide information
to the doctors, who then
advise the paramedics on
how to treat the victim(s)
and prepare them for
transport to Rampart.
It’s a process we take
for granted today—of
course paramedics work
with medical teams by
radio—but the concept
of paramedics treating
victims on the scene was
still fairly new in the
early 1970s, having just
started in California a few
years before the premiere
of the show.
The crew at Rampart
is headed up by Dr. Kelly
Brackett, played by Robert
Fuller; Nurse Dixie McCall, played by Julie London; who made his screen debut in the Season Two Byrne, Baby, Byrne
and Dr. Joe Early, played by Bobby Troup. The episode “Kids.” The series often is credited with
casting kept things “in the family,” so to speak, as having been a driving force behind the creation (top left) A chemical fire
Julie London had been married to series and development of paramedic programs
around the United States.
at a warehouse rages out
creator Jack Webb, who asked London
and her real-life (second) husband of control in issue #1.
Bobby Troup to play McCall and LONG LEAD TIME
It took a while—four years or so— (top right) John Byrne’s art
Early. In the 2001 book, My Name’s
Friday, London was quoted as for Emergency! to be adapted in issue #1 featured very
having said, “I’d never worked to comic-book form. Charlton
Comics, which had tried its good likenesses of actors
with Jack before, but Bobby has
done several [episodes of Dragnet hand at television series-based Julie London and Robert
and Adam-12]. It’s just a business adaptations such as The Partridge
relationship. The divorce happened Family and Space: 1999, landed Fuller. (bottom left) Gage
nineteen years ago. That part of Emergency! in 1976. (Charlton also and DeSoto confer on next
my life is all behind.” Along with produced a black-and-white
being actors, London and Troup magazine version of Emergency! steps in the radium chloride
JOHN BYRNE in 1976–1977.)
also were musicians, with both case in Emergency! #1.
having successful singing careers. Emergency! #1 (June 1976)
A jazz pianist, Troup wrote the hit song “Route 66.” featured a Joe Staton cover, a (bottom right) This panel
Emergency! premiered on January 15, 1972, 22-page story written by Joe Gill and edited by from issue #1 demonstrates
and ran for six seasons, winding up its run on George Wildman (who served as writer and editor,
May 28, 1977. Many familiar names guest- respectively, of all four issues in the series), and John Byrne’s use of unusual
starred on the show during its run, including such interior art by “Byrne Robotics.” In an interview camera angles.
actors as Lloyd Haynes, who played teacher Pete conducted by Jon B. Cooke and published in the
Dixon in Room 222, and a young John Travolta, March 2001 issue of Comic Book Artist, John Byrne © NBCUniversal.

explained the unusual credit. “Back when I was starting up I was
very nervous about using uncredited assistants. I did not want
the folk at Charlton knowing I was not doing all the work myself,
but I also did not want the work credited as if I was. So I came up
with the term ‘Byrne Robotics’ as the credit whenever I had help
on the books—such help being nothing much beyond spotting
blacks. Two people helped out as ‘Byrne Robotics,’ my college
chum Vic Bosson (now a successful illustrator in Canada) and his
girlfriend, Barb Weaver.”
The story, “Hot Cargo,” hits the ground running on the splash
page, with engine company 51 enroute to a chemical fire at a
warehouse. The firefighters contend with all kinds of dangerous
materials, such as bales of rubber and naptha, and soon realize it’s
arson when they find gasoline in containers in an office.
There also was a shipment of radium chloride in the
building that has gone missing. It appears that whomever set
the fire also stole the radium chloride, a highly radioactive and
dangerous substance, using the fire to cover his tracks. Now it’s
a race against time as John Gage works with the police to find
the arsonist—and the radium chloride—before they can do any
more damage to the community.
It’s an excellent first entry for the series, a well-written and
suspenseful tale. John Byrne’s art is outstanding here. His early
style, while certainly being recognizable as Byrne, has more
“looseness” of line, which gives it a raw look. He also had a solid
design sense even then, using a variety of “camera angles” and
panel shapes. And he did well in capturing the likenesses of the
Emergency! actors from the TV series.
STANDOUT COVER
Emergency! #2 (Aug. 1976) also sported a Staton cover, and a
strong case can be made that it’s the best cover of the series.
“It was acrylics with some markers,” says Staton. “Pat Boyette had
run across the world’s cheapest color separator in Texas. He told
George Wildman at Charlton that he could get painted covers
color separated as cheaply as Charlton was getting black and
white with flat color. So Charlton gave us the option of doing
painted and/or marker covers or whatever process we wanted,
as long as we didn’t bill any more than we did for a black-and-
white cover. It was fun, people were trying different things,
and some of it turned out pretty good. I did a lot of acrylic…
Tom Sutton did some beautiful stuff and Don Newton did full-
painted Phantom covers. Everything at Charlton was cheap,
but you got a chance to try most anything, one way or another.”
The story in the second issue, “The Big Squeeze,” finds Gage
and DeSoto on the receiving end of a malpractice suit being filed by
Roy’s neighbor, whose life Gage saved at a neighborhood picnic and
who now claims injury as a result of the incident. Meantime, Squad
51 is sent on a call to a drainage culvert, where a boy is trapped
after he chased his basketball into the structure. It’s raining hard
and the tunnel/culvert is filling quickly with water. The paramedics
manage to save the boy just in time by using a Jaws of Life tool to
cut the rusted iron grating that’s trapped him.
Throughout the issue, DeSoto worries about the lawsuit,
wondering how a person could take legal action against the people
who saved his life. The resolution comes from an unexpected
source, and Joe Gill does a good job of showing the struggle of
balancing the desire to go to the aide of others with the reality
Risky Business that some people will try to twist it and use it against us.
The interior art in issue #2 is by Demetrio Sánchez Gómez,
(top) Roy DeSoto and a boy wait as Johnny Gage uses a Jaws who also did the art on issues #3 and 4 of the series. Gómez is
of Life tool to free them from a drainage culvert in issue #2. a native of Spain who also has done illustration work for German
and British publications. His art on Emergency! is solid but for the
Art by Demetrio Sánchez Gómez, who also did the interior art most part unspectacular, and he does a good job of capturing
on issues 3 and 4. (center) Roy and Johnny get the owner of a the actors’ likenesses. John Byrne’s work in issue #1 set a high bar,
which Gómez doesn’t match, but his visuals suffice to tell the story.
fire-engulfed boat out of harm’s way in the nick of time in “One Big Happy Family,” the story in Emergency! #3 (Oct.
Emergency! #2. (bottom) Gage and DeSoto react to a petition 1976), depicts a fire station that’s anything but. Joe Diskin,
a recent transfer from a nearby station, has a personality that
to have Joe Diskin transferred to another fire station in issue #3. would peel paint, but he’s a good firefighter and more than
© NBCUniversal. pulls his weight when the crew is called out for a gas heater

explosion in an apartment house and a chemical fire Sánchez Gómez did an excellent job on the sequence Blazing Cover Art
at an industrial site. Between calls, Roy and Johnny and it’s one of the most dynamic action scenes of the
try to befriend Diskin, but he’s having none of it and four-issue run of Emergency! (left) Jack Sparling’s
tells them to keep their distance. Jack Sparling did the art chores for the covers of cover for Emergency!
When a couple of the other firefighters sign a issues #3 and 4, and both covers do well in conveying
petition to have Diskin transferred out, Johnny and the kind of dangerous situations that the men of Fire #3 (Oct. 1976).
Roy defend Diskin. They tell the others that it’s true, Station 51 often find themselves facing. (right) The Sparling
Diskin won’t win any popularity contests, but he’s Each of the four issues also includes a text story
a good firefighter, someone we can depend on in a about Station 51. The art for the text stories in issues cover of issue #4
scrape, and that’s more important than personality. #1, 2, and 3 are taken from John Byrne’s art for the
The question is, will Diskin come around and thaw out, main story in issue #1 (and in some instances, enlarged
offers a glimpse of
or will the guys have to get used to rejection? big-time), while the art for the text story in issue #4 is the Erika Baumann
taken from Demetrio Sánchez Gómez’s art in issue #2
JUST DOING MY JOB, MA’AM (with some minor alterations). rescue inside.
Emergency! #4 (Dec. 1976) opens with DeSoto and Issue #4 would be the last for Emergency! as Charlton © NBC Universal.
Gage rescuing an international film star, Erika Baumann, pulled the plug on Station 51 in late 1976. The four
after her car plows through a roadside fence and winds issues of the series represented a very good adaptation
up in a ravine. Entitled “The Look of Heroes,” the story of the television show, with writer Joe Gill capturing
heats up when Erika thanks Johnny with a kiss, which is the good-natured teasing and humorous banter that
caught on-camera by the press. The guys back at the went on between the firefighters, paramedics, and
station rib Gage mercilessly about his new “friend,” and doctors on the small screen. The “ladies man” aspect
Erika invites Johnny over for dinner once she’s out of the of the John Gage character—such a central part of
hospital. The dinner goes well and Erika asks Johnny to the television show—was toned down somewhat in
invite Roy and Roy’s wife, Joanne, over for a cookout. the comic. But the action-filled rescues that defined
At the cookout a couple of days later, an accident Emergency! on television also were center stage in the
occurs when Erika’s chef accidentally sets himself on Charlton series. Bing-bong-buuuuuuzzzzzzzzz.
fire. Gage grabs the man and Erika, thinking fast,
shoves them into the pool, dousing the flames and Watching Emergency! made DOUGLAS R. KELLY want to be
saving both men from more serious injury. Demetrio a paramedic, but he gave that up when he discovered girls.

TM
by Dewey Cassell
World Famous
Heroine
A stunning portrait
of Lindsay Wagner
as Jaime Sommers
by Arnaldo Putzu.
Original cover
art from the
UK publication
Look-in (Jan. 14,
1978), courtesy
of Heritage
Comics Auctions
(www.ha.com).
Bionic Woman © NBCUniversal.
When you have your first child, you take dozens of photographs of This rather unconventional analogy explains, at least in part
them doing every little thing, including sleeping, enough to try the and in a roundabout way, the history of the Charlton comic book,
patience of your closest relatives and best of friends. And then when The Bionic Woman. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. We should
you have your second child, you find the difference is not arithmetic start with the firstborn child.
but exponential, and you take far fewer photographs, because you Martin Caidin wrote a novel titled Cyborg in 1972 that served
are just trying to survive. If you should have a third child, there as the basis for the television show The Six Million Dollar Man,
will likely be no record of them at all. It’s not that you are playing starring Lee Majors as Steve Austin and Richard Anderson as
favorites or love the first child more, it’s just a matter of having to Oscar Goldman, head of the Office of Scientific Intelligence
divide your once undivided attention. (OSI), a fictitious division of the United States Department of

State. In 1975, during the second season, the show
introduced the character Jaime Sommers, a love
interest of Steve Austin played by Lindsay Wagner,
who is severely injured during a sky-diving accident.
Austin convinces Goldman and OSI to save her life We Can Rebuild Her,
by repairing her injuries with bionics similar to We Can Make Her Stronger
his own. Sommers receives two bionic legs, one
bionic arm, and a bionic ear. (The Jaime Sommers (top) Photo of Lindsay
character is not in the Caidin novel.)
Wagner, from The Six Million
The concept was well received by viewers and the
following year, Wagner got her own television series, Dollar Man magazine #1
The Bionic Woman. In the spinoff show, Sommers
becomes a schoolteacher at an Air Force base in Ojai,
(July 1976). Courtesy of
California, while taking on missions for OSI. Like its Dewey Cassell. (bottom)
older brother, the show was a hit.
And as with most hit shows, there was no shortage From the Heritage archives,
of merchandising. There was a Bionic Woman board original Jack Sparling artwork
game, a Bionic Woman lunch box, Bionic Woman
action figures and accessories, Bionic Woman trading to the cover of Charlton’s
cards, and, of course, a Bionic Woman comic book. Bionic Woman #1 (Oct. 1977).
Charlton Comics was not new to publishing
comic books based on licensed properties. Prior titles (inset) The published version.
included The Partridge Family and Space: 1999. “The © NBCUniversal.
Charlton News” article in issue #4 of The Charlton
Bullseye in-house fanzine revealed, “Charlton has
just signed a contract with Universal Studios for the
comic book efforts of two of their top-rated television
shows, The Six Million Dollar Man and Emergency!
Each of these will have a four-color presentation, and
a black and white format.”
The first issue of The Six Million Dollar Man comic
book was cover-dated June 1976 (on sale March
11, 1976). The Bionic Woman comic book followed
much later, on July 1, 1977, cover-dated October
1977. Both titles were supposed to be bimonthly,
but the publishing was sporadic. (The second issue
of The Bionic Woman was cover-dated February
1978.) Jack Sparling illustrated all the covers and
interior stories for the Bionic Woman series, drawing
likenesses of the actors with mixed success. The writer
of The Bionic Woman stories is uncertain, but may
have been Joe Gill.
The debut issue of The Bionic Woman includes
two comic stories, the first involving a kidnapping of
one of her students and the second requiring Jaime
to pose as a flight attendant to thwart a murder.
In the latter story, Oscar Goldman has Dr. Rudy
Wells reduce Jaime’s bionic powers to “Stage I,” the
abilities of a normal person, to lessen the chance of
someone learning about her
bionics, but it puts Jaime at
risk on the mission. This was
an idea also explored on the
television show, and there
was an episode in which Jaime
posed as a flight attendant. In
general, however, the stories
appearing in the comic book
were new, not based directly
on television episodes. (The
Bionic Dog never appears in
the comic book.) The first
issue also includes a two-page
text piece recapping her origin
from the television series, and
pointing out the spelling of her
first name—Jaime—is correct,
although ironically it would
be misspelled in later issues. The comic book also
provided a different definition of the acronym OSI,
calling it the Office of Strategic Intelligence.

The first story in issue #2 finds Jaime on a The story in issue #4 (May 1978) is about a former
mission teaching the children of the president of a colleague of Dr. Rudy Wells, thought to have perished
Oh, I Wish I Southeast Asian country, where she exposes a coup in a laboratory explosion, who kidnaps Wells and
attempt. In the second story Jaime poses as a marine Jaime, challenging the Bionic Woman to solve a maze
Were an Oscar photographer to protect an ambassador aboard his to save Wells’ life, while being pursued by a female
Goldman Agent… yacht. In the two-page text story, Oscar doubts android. The story has similarities to the “Kill Oscar”
Jaime’s abilities because she is a woman and she and “Dr. Wells is Missing” episodes of the Bionic
(below) Original art proves him wrong in a confrontation with a would-be Woman show. Beginning with this issue, the text story
bomber. One of the things The Bionic Woman comic is reduced to one page.
to page 4 of The
book did well, like its television counterpart, was In the fifth and final issue of The Bionic Woman
Bionic Woman provide a strong positive female role model. It is (June 1978), Jaime goes undercover as a substitute
uncertain how many young girls may have read The teacher to befriend a former inventor and find out
#2, with Oscar Bionic Woman comics, and Charlton did not include what he did with his plans for a missile-jamming
Goldman. Courtesy a letters page, but those who did must surely have device. Like all of the issues in the series, the story
been inspired by the character. was standalone without any ongoing continuity,
of Alan Pinion. Beginning with the third issue (Mar. 1978), the so there is no mention of an upcoming issue (or
(right) Jaime format switched to a single full-length comic story, indication the series was cancelled). A cover and
which in this case was influenced by the headlines. interior artwork exist for a story involving Jaime
vs. Jaws on Jaime is sent undercover to investigate sabotage of encountering ape-like creatures that live beneath
issue #2’s Sparling- the Alaska oil pipeline. This is one of the best-written the surface of the earth, planned for an unpublished
stories in the series and features the most instances sixth issue of The Bionic Woman.
drawn cover. in which Jaime uses her bionic powers. A two-page A comparison with The Six Million Dollar Man
© NBCUniversal. text story is included. comics by Charlton is inevitable. One difference
is that The Bionic Woman comics did not have the
benefit of the painted covers that graced the early
issues of The Six Million Dollar Man comics. Another
distinction is that The Bionic Woman did not have a
black-and-white magazine like her male counterpart.
The magazine helped to foster interest in older
readers, and included articles and photographs from
the television show. There were a couple of articles in
the magazine about Lindsay Wagner, but no stories
featuring the Bionic Woman.
Ultimately, The Bionic Woman comic stories had
little to distinguish them from those of The Six
Million Dollar Man. And unlike the television show,
there were no crossovers with Steve Austin in The
Bionic Woman comic book, except brief mention

in a text story. That said, although the Six Million
Dollar Man comic book lasted four more issues than
his female counterpart, both titles were cancelled
with the June 1978 cover-dated issues. This is not
entirely surprising, given that the television series on
which they were based ended around the same time.
The last episode of The Six Million Dollar Man was
broadcast in March 1978. The final episode of The
Bionic Woman aired two months later.
The television show may actually have indirectly
contributed to the lackluster success of the comics.
In theory, comic books should have been an ideal
format for displaying the variety of abilities of the
Bionic Woman. But in reality, viewers saw those same
abilities displayed on television every week. Look at
it this way—if the X-Men or Avengers movies had
come out before they ever appeared in comics,
would the comics have been nearly as entertaining?
Probably not. Seeing it in the comics first gave fuel to
your imagination, which made seeing it brought to
life on the screen all the more astounding.
However, there were other factors at play. According
to the article “The Charlton Empire” in issue #9 of
Comic Book Artist magazine, “management ordered the
comics line in 1978 to stop accepting new material,
and to use—with rare exceptions—only reprints from
Charlton’s huge inventory, a situation which lasted
until the comic line’s demise a few years later.”
The Charlton comic series was not the only
illustrated version of the Bionic Woman. The Bionic
Woman Annuals were published by Brown Watson in
the UK in 1977 and 1978, featuring new comic stories.
But arguably the most successful version of the Bionic
Woman to appear in comics was in Look-in. Look-in
was a weekly children’s magazine published in the UK
from 1971 to 1994. It featured interviews, articles,
puzzles, and photographs about sports, television,
and music celebrities. However, the main attraction
was serialized “picture strips” based on musicians like
David Cassidy and ABBA, and television shows like
Kung Fu, Space: 1999, Man from Atlantis, Logan’s Run,
The Six Million Dollar Man, and The Bionic Woman,
depending on what was being shown on the ITV
network at the time. Some strips were printed in color
and others in black and white.
The Six Million Dollar Man strip began running
in Look-in in June 1975, followed by The Bionic
Woman in August 1976. Every issue of Look-in The Charlton version of The Bionic Woman comics Jaime Goes Ape
typically featured two pages of each strip as part have never been collected into a trade paperback,
of an ongoing storyline. What set it apart, though, but the original issues are readily available on the Original art page 6
was the color artwork. The Bionic Woman strip was secondary market. A new comic book from Image to the unpublished
initially drawn by John M. Burns, who also drew the Comics titled Bionix, co-starring Jaime Sommers and
Modesty Blaise newspaper strip, and Arthur Ranson. Steve Austin, was planned for 1996, but never came Bionic Woman #6.
John Bolton later took over the artistic duties, to fruition. A revival of the Bionic Woman television
From the collection
rendering gorgeous painted panel pages. The show was attempted in 2007, but it was cancelled
stories were written by Angus P. Allan. The Six Million after eight episodes. In recent years, Dynamite of Richard Morgan.
Dollar Man strip ended in March 1979, a year after Entertainment has published several short-lived
Bionic Woman © NBCUniversal.
the last television episode, and The Bionic Woman comic series featuring the Bionic Woman. One of
strip ended two months later, after which the two the most successful was when Dynamite teamed up
characters appeared together in a Bionic Action strip with DC Comics for a pairing of Lindsay Wagner’s
for six months, drawn by several different artists, Jaime Sommers with Lynda Carter’s Diana Prince in
including Ian Gibson, who illustrated the Brown Wonder Woman ’77 Meets the Bionic Woman. If only
Watson Bionic Woman annuals. Charlton had tried that idea…
A quarterly Brazilian comic magazine titled Os
Biônicos (The Bionics) was published by Ebal, beginning Sincere thanks to Richard Morgan and Alan Pinion for the artwork
in 1979. The issues alternated focus on the Bionic used in the article.
Woman (Mulher Biônica) and the Six Million Dollar
DEWEY CASSELL is the Eisner Award-nominated author/
Man (Cyborg), with the content likely reprints of the
co-author of four books and over 40 magazine articles. He
Look-in picture strips. The series lasted six issues. Bionic is currently working on biographies of artists Irv Novick and
Woman comics also appeared in the French magazine, Marshall Rogers for TwoMorrows Publishing. And yes, he had
TELEjunior, under the title “Super Jaime.” a crush on Lindsay Wagner.

At 9:00 p.m. on Wednesday, August 31, 1977, Wonder TM
Woman made its debut on Argentina’s TV channel
13. And beginning on September 8, the series was
transmitted every Thursday at 9. The series immediately
captured the absolute attention of the public, not only
of young women who finally could identify with a
superheroine, but also of very young boys captured
by the rhythm of her adventures and older viewers by
the great acting skills of its protagonist, Lynda Carter,
forever Wonder Woman. Carter was accompanied on
her adventures by a rather inconsequential Major Steve
Trevor, played by Lyle Waggoner.
In our country, Wonder Woman was known only by
the Mexican name “Marvila” from the comics of the
Novaro Publishing House and by the animated cartoons
of the Super Friends. So little known was she that
before the release, it was promoted as Superwoman,
the female version of Superman.
During the 1960s, it was also customary in Argentina
to publish comics based upon TV characters. In the
beginning, these were comic books about TV
Westerns such as Maverick, Cheyenne, and
by To n i To r r e s
The Law of the Gun. During the 1970s,
Mo-Pa-Sa Publishing House was issuing
Kung Fu, The Pink Panther, and Astro Boy,
comic books made entirely in Argentina
and without paying any royalties.
It was so that in October of 1977,
the first issue of Wonder Woman
(“Mujer Maravilla”) was born under
the “Vivepry” seal (which was later
changed to “Editorial Olimpo,” fake
Mo-Pa-Sa editorial names), under the
prolific pen of Jorge Morhain and
the excellent brush of his brother, mario morhain
cartoonist Mario Morhain. The
Agencia NOVA.
Vivepry label hid in its acronym the
name of Violini, Vecchio, and Prystupa, cartoonists
who collaborated regularly in Mo-Pa-Sa magazines.
According to Mario
Morhain: “I will tell you
that it was common
practice to change the
name of the publisher to
avoid lawsuits for trade-
mark infringements.”
Curiously, neither
Jorge nor Mario was a
regular reader of the
Wonder Woman © DC Comics.
original DC Comics
Wonder Woman comic
books, but together they
made a very good, free
adaptation of the series.
The stories were 20
pages long. They used
such familiar elements
All the World’s Waiting for You

Portrait of Lynda Carter as Wonder Woman,
illustrated in 2017 by Mario Morhain.
Wonder Woman TM & © DC Comics.

of the TV show (borrowed from the original comics) Publishing’s company’s editorial was José Alegre, Wonder Woman
as the magic lasso, the bulletproof bracelets, and the although in the journals of Mo-Pa-Sa he appeared as
invisible plane. The adventures were set in the 1940s, José Asmar. The magazine lasted eight issues between Rarities
during the Second World War, mimicking the first October 1977 and May 1978. It was printed in black Long before DC
season of the TV series. While the scripts featured new and white, with some pages were in red and white.
plots based upon the TV show (for example, when a Curiously, the American comic-book version of Wonder published its Wonder
space invasion of Lizardmen is stopped), the characters Woman was also drawn in those years by another Woman ’77 retro
had the same names as in the original stories. The comic Argentine cartoonist, the famous José Delbo.
books were very well done, with realistic drawings that at Wonder Woman had as a complement a children’s comics, Argentinean
times were quite close to the facial likenesses of the char- comic story of the series titled Mini Maravilla (“Mini
acters in the TV series, which was not easy in those times.
comic books saw the
Wonder”), where “Dina” solves the problems that
“Since the magazines were published concurrently afflict the rather useless “Major Trivo,” with whom potential in doing
with the television show and there was no documen- she was madly in love. This parody was produced by
tation [for reference], one had to first watch the series Prys and sometimes also by Vecchio. Mini Maravilla
new stories starring
then recall the traits of the characters to draw them was successful enough to issue its own comic, by Prys. the TV version of the
afterwards in a hurry to come up with the episode for The magazine also published drawings from the
that week,” explains Mario Morhain on the challenges readers in each issue. Amazon Princess.
of illustrating Argentina’s Wonder Woman comic book. It is true that the magazine Wonder Woman Wonder Woman TM & ©
“One must remember that there was no internet in was not a success and may not have been a jewel. DC Comics.
that golden age, not even a video recorder to capture But without a doubt it is an apocryphal pearl of
the series. And you had to do them from one day to the Argentinean comic books.
next or in a couple of days at best because you had to
take advantage of the boon in TV advertising.” This is a tribute to those who brought our screen heroes to
Argentina’s Wonder Woman product was very good our hands. Now that everyone is crazy with the new Wonder
and although native, very faithful to the original series. Woman Gal Gadot, I will continue to dream as always
Almost all the chapters were written and drawn by with Lynda Carter, our Wonder Woman. I appreciate the
the fraternal duo of the Morhains, and at least in one contributions to this article by maestro Mario Morhaín and the
drawing he made especially for it.
of those issues (#8), both were replaced by Miguel
Prystupa. The covers were drawn by several artists such
TONI TORRES is an Argentinian writer, the creator of the
as Horacio Merel, Prys (Prystupa), Mario Morhain superhero “El Caballero Rojo,” an important collector
himself (actually the best of them all), and an enigmatic in his country, and a comic historian that specializes in
artist who signed “GQ.” The head of Mo-Pa-Sa Argentinian comic books.

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On Sunday, May 1, 1983, television viewers were
treated to special visitors when they tuned into
the first episode of NBC’s science-fiction miniseries
titled simply V. Spaceships started appearing above
major cities all over the planet Earth. As viewers
soon learned, these ships were filled with human-
like aliens that said they wanted our help to save
their planet. The aliens were called the Visitors.
However, there was more to be seen than meets
the eye. Underneath the Visitors’ human-like skin,
they were a carnivorous reptilian race that wanted
to steal the Earth’s water and use humans as food.
Although a resistance movement was organized to
help stop the Visitors, the second and final episode
of the miniseries ended with the Visitors having
by Ed Lute almost complete control of the planet.
Kenneth Johnson, the creator/writer/director of
V, wanted to tell a story of the dangers of Nazisim.
With this miniseries, he was able to do so in the
guise of science fiction. The uniforms and insignia
that the Visitors wore were reminiscent of Nazi garb.
Science fiction has always been a prime spot to tell
challenging and even difficult stories that couldn’t be
told elsewhere. This miniseries was no exception.
V proved to be very successful and garnered
a second miniseries, V: The Final Battle, which
premiered the following year. The sequel miniseries
also proved to be popular and an ongoing
television series titled V (but often referred to as V:
The Series) was ordered by NBC.
Although popular, the ongoing series didn’t
draw the audience numbers in that the two
miniseries did and was cancelled after only one
season, with a final scripted episode never even
being filmed. The ongoing series suffered from
budget cuts, leading to the reuse of footage from
both miniseries and limitations on some special
effects such as the Visitors’ distinctive vocal
renderings. Kenneth Johnson was only minimally
involved with V: The Final Battle and wasn’t
involved at all with the regular series.
Despite the ongoing series’ drop in the ratings,
fans wanted more of the Visitors. DC Comics was
happy to oblige. V the comic-book series ran for 18
issues from 1985 to 1986.
V: THE COMIC BOOK SERIES

It wasn’t until the ongoing V television series was
announced that DC Comics became involved with
the franchise. Original V comic editor Marv
Wolfman recounts to BACK ISSUE, “I loved the
V is for (Unwelcome) Visitors

Gripping covers for issues of DC Comics’ V
tie-in, for (top) #1 (Feb. 1985) and 2, with
cover art by Eduardo Barreto, and (bottom)
#5 (June 1985), with cover art by Denys
Cowan and Rick Magyar, and 6, with cover
art by Rich Buckler and Romeo Tanghal.
V © Warner Bros.

original TV [miniseries] as well as the follow-up. with the ongoing television series. Red Dust, first
Because I did, once the show was announced, introduced in V: The Final Battle, was a bacterium
I pitched the idea of doing an adaptation to DC. deadly to the Visitors. Since the Red Dust wasn’t
I thought the show would last a year or two and effective in warm climates, the Visitors and the
we could do a short-run comic that would be well resistance fighters set up Los Angeles as a neutral
done. Then, once the show started to fade and sales ground. This was the status quo for both the ongoing
started to go south, we’d cancel the book. television show and the comic.
I think the idea of doing intentionally Issue #1 (Feb. 1985) took place after the
With Friends short-run comics is a good one.” first few episodes of the television series.
Like These… DC wasn’t totally on board from It introduced the major players and the
the get-go but had faith in the setup for the series. Issues #2 (Mar.
(left) Astounding legendary comic writer/editor. “DC 1985) and 3 (Apr. 1985) featured
original cover art wasn’t sure about it, but they trusted Donovan, Parrish, Willie, and other
me and gave me the go ahead,” resistance fighters crash-landing in
by Barreto for V #1. Wolfman recounts. “I assigned it to Silver Springs, a town that helped
[writer] Cary Bates. I thought he did the Visitors to procure spring water
(right) Artist Tony
a great job.” in exchange for medical services for
DeZuniga blows The comic featured the major their elderly.
players from the television series Since the comic-book series
up stuff reeeeeal including Visitor leaders Diana and wasn’t encumbered by the TV
marv wolfman
good on his cover Lydia and resistance fighters Mike series’ budget cuts, DC gave the
Donovan, Julie Parrish, Ham Tyler, Visitors jet packs and also featured
to V #3 (Apr. 1985). Chris Farber, and Visitor-turned-resistance-fighter the resistance fighters using a vocasimulator (also
Original art scans Willie. Robin Maxwell and her daughter Elizabeth referred to as a voca-simulator) to emulate the
(a.k.a. the Starchild, the offspring of a human and aliens’ voices, something that the regular series
courtesy of Heritage a Visitor), plus Elias Taylor and others, appeared as didn’t do for budgetary reasons. The second issue
Comics Auctions well. The Fifth Column, a secret Visitor organization featured the Visitors using flying platforms that
that sympathizes with the humans, also played a probably wouldn’t have been in the budget for the
(www.ha.com). prominent role in the comic. miniseries but fit in perfectly with the comic-book
© Warner Bros. The comic was developed to run concurrently medium.

Where’s Adam
Strange?
Penciler Carmine
Infantino might not
have regarded V
as his finest work,
although this
original art, with
Tony DeZuniga’s
lush finishes, says
otherwise. Page
2–3 spread from
V #1. Courtesy
of Heritage.
© Warner Bros.
EXPANDING THE V FRANCHISE job building buzz. I did watch both

In V #5 (June 1985), Dr. Earl Meagan, who made his first miniseries and enjoyed them a lot.”
appearance in the previous issue, wanted to meet with Diana to Although not always canonical,
propose a truce. If the proposed truce didn’t work, Dr. Meagan the comic book attempted to keep
planned to assassinate Diana. He felt that he was responsible for current with the television show. In
bringing the Visitors to Earth. He had previously worked on a the 11th episode of the show, “The carmine infantino
project that sent probes out into space to find other signs of Betrayal,” Elias was killed. Since © DC Comics.
life. While it is never stated whether or not Dr. Meagan’s probe he was killed on the show, he was
caused the Visitors to come to Earth, Dr. Meagan believed it did. written out of the comic as well. Several other characters were written
Unfortunately, his mission was unsuccessful, and he died in the out of the show including Ham, Chris, and Robin. The comic book
subsequent issue. This was a good concept and one that should would reflect the loss of these characters by having them go to a
have been investigated more in the television series as well different part of the country to fight with those resistance branches.
because it provided a detailed look at just how the Visitors found Issues #7 and 8 (Aug. and Sept. 1985) were one-off stories by
the Earth in the first place. guest writers Mindy Newell and Bob Rozakis, respectively. Issue #7
The comic continued V’s theme of using science fiction to was a Julie Parrish solo story, while #8 featured a Ham, Chris, and
examine fascism. Issue #5 also introduced Camp Lakka, Robin tale. These two issues were produced to give Bates the
a Visitor concentration camp where the Visitors conducted time needed to catch up with the changes in the show,
experiments to make humans more nutritious for the including the departed cast members. “Cary was writing
Visitors to eat. The camp was destroyed by Ham and and editing The Flash at this point along with writing
Chris in the next issue. for the Superman books,” Greenberger recalls. “As
Writer/editor Robert Greenberger, who worked he was nearing the wrap-up of Flash, he needed a
as Wolfman’s assistant editor on V, became breather, so as it happened, my first issue as editor
the series’ editor with issue #7 (Aug. 1985). required a fill-in. At the time, New Talent Showcase
Greenberger recalls to BACK ISSUE, “At the time, alumnus Mindy Newell was in the office regularly,
Marv was a part-time editor, writing and editing so I was able to tap her for that.”
New Teen Titans while editing Star Trek and a few While DC was publishing the V comic, there were
other books. However, I joined specifically to work also V novels being published by Pinnacle Books
with him and Len Wein on Crisis on Infinite Earths as well. DC issues #9 and 10 (Oct. and Nov. 1985)
and Who’s Who. As 1984 progressed, it became featured a crossover of sorts between a tie-in novel
robert greenberger
obvious those projects would preoccupy them so and the comic when fictional New York City Mayor
bit by bit, Marv divested himself of those books. Alison Stein was featured in the comic. Stein was
“I had been assisting him on both Trek and V so, I became the first introduced in the novel V: East Coast Crisis, written by Howard
logical successor. By then, I had already met [V’s] series producers Dan Weinstein and A. C. Crispin, published in 1984. That’s a great nod
Blatt and Robert Singer at the 1984 World Science Fiction Convention to the other aspects of the V franchise helping to build a bigger
in Anaheim, so [I had] established a working relationship.” interconnected world.
Greenberger was a fan of V before his time working for DC. He
recalls, “The first miniseries was in 1983 while I was still working at CANONICAL OR NOT?
Starlog, so I was aware of the show early on. Since I was commuting While the V comic attempted to stay in sync with the rest of the franchise
from Long Island to Manhattan every day, I saw all the subways’ and the television series, this wasn’t always the case. According to
billboards, part of V’s clever marketing campaign, which did a great Greenberger, “Canon is in the eye of the beholder. At this time,

canon wasn’t important to media properties, save Star V #11 (Dec. 1985) featured the introduction of
Wars, which early on treated the novels and comics Bron, the son of the Visitor Supreme Leader. He fell
as canon. Blatt and Singer barely respected science into the hands of the resistance after Diana made a
fiction when producing the series, so [they] never failed assassination attempt was on his life. Bron,
considered us canonical. As long as we didn’t like Willie and the Fifth Column before him,
embarrass them, we could run free. sympathized with the resistance. Over the
“When I spoke with the producers, next several issues, he traveled around
I was accompanied by a Los Angeles with Donovan and Parrish trying to stay
Herald journalist I befriended that out of the hands of the Visitors. During
weekend,” Greenberger adds. “After this time, Bron continued to learn
D is for Design the conversation and [we] learned more about humans. Bron’s storyline
Note how the “V” of their cavalier attitude towards ran through issue #16 (May 1986),
the science part of science fiction, in which he died saving Donovan from
logo is incorporated we knew the show was doomed. a Visitor. The final pages of the issue
into the layout of Years later, that journalist, J. Michael brought Donovan, Parrish, Willie, and
Straczynski, and I had a good laugh Elizabeth back to L.A. and set the
these—and all of— at that.” Straczynski would offer stage for the final aired episode of
the covers for DC’s fans of his television show Babylon cary bates the television series. As mentioned,
5 comic books and novels that were there was also an unfilmed episode,
V series. in-canon and interconnected to the © DC Comics.
so the television series ended on a
© Warner Bros. main narrative. But that’s a story for another article. cliffhanger that was never resolved.
BRINGING THE VISITORS TO LIFE

For a comic book based on a licensed property,
the series drew some comic-book heavyweights
to chronicle it. As noted by Wolfman, outgoing
Superman and Flash scribe Cary Bates was chosen
as the writer. Even though Bates did a great job
bringing the feel of the characters from the television
screen to the comic page, it wasn’t a comic that he
particularly sought out. Bates recalls, “DC offered
the book to me and Carmine Infantino immediately
after the demise of The Flash in Crisis. Since we
enjoyed working together, we accepted the gig.
Not to sound crass, but I think we both viewed it as
something of a consolation prize after losing Flash.
“As I recall, for me V was a sort of place-filler when
my writing career at DC was in flux. Having just lost
The Flash due to Crisis and Superman due to John Byrne,
I was transitioning to projects where I was the sole or
main creator, like Captain Atom and Silverblade for DC
and Video Jack for Marvel/Epic.”
Bates was accompanied on the book by penciler
Carmine Infantino and inker Tony DeZuniga. In the
TwoMorrows book Carmine Infantino: Penciler Publisher
Provocateur by Jim Amash with Eric Nolan-Weathington,
Infantino discussed his time working on V: “That was
based on a TV series. I never saw the show. They hardly
gave me any reference for it, either.”
While Infantino is a comic legend, his work on this
series wasn’t among his best. “Anything I did in that
whole period was not interesting at all,” Infantino
admitted. “It was pure work and nothing else.”
Readers want to see in a licensed comic the
likenesses of the characters they are used to seeing
on a movie or television screen. Even though
Infantino may not have had much V reference from
the producers and he only saw it as a job, he was
still able to capture the look and feel of the series.
Greenberger states, “As I recall, our likeness rights
extended to Marc Singer [Mike Donovan], Faye
Grant [Juliet Parrish], Jane Badler [Diana], June
Chadwick [Lydia], and I think Robert Englund [Willie]
and Michael Ironside [Ham Tyler]. Carmine always
told me on the phone he was enjoying the work, but
I truly don’t think his heart was in it. Tony DeZuniga
did his best to match the approved model sheets.
“The series was set on Earth and it had to be a
recognizable Los Angeles,” Greenberger explains.
“Carmine was equally terrific with action and
architecture. Cary gave him plenty of set pieces to

work with and he delivered. Licensed books don’t
always excite artists and I got very professional, very
workman-like efforts from Carmine here and Tom
Sutton on Star Trek. Personally, I was delighted to be
working with someone whose work I grew up on,
even if it wasn’t on Silver Age superheroes. I at least
got more of that from Carmine for Who’s Who.
“All our work was filtered through Warner Bros.
Licensing. We’d send in style sheets for the principal Tasty Ad Copy
actors and story outlines. After feedback, they’d then
see the script followed by the final art. As I recall, there (top) Jerry Bingham’s
was very little that required change. In 1984, all we pulse-pounding
had to work with were whatever stills we could get
from Warner along with watching the show regularly. cover to V #8
It was quite challenging for shots of specific alien tech (Sept. 1985).
or makeup, but we managed.
“In summer 1985,” Greenberger concludes, “I got (bottom) Original
to spend some time with actors June Chadwick and
art by Murphy
Jane Badler at the Atlanta Fantasy Fair, who were very
complimentary at how sexy our artists made them.” Anderson (with
Sometimes a comic book’s cover can sell the book to
a potential reader. V had some compelling covers that
a Photostat of
may have enticed potential buyers to pick up the book. Bingham’s cover
“When I took over, I switched to using Jerry Bingham
as my cover artist as [original V cover artist] Eduardo art) for a DC Comics
Barreto got very much in demand,” Greenberger promoting issue #8,
recalls. “Jerry, for a while, was my go-to cover man on
several books, and he really enjoyed using the V logo with copy playing
as a design element.” off of a popular
THE VISITORS LEAVE EARTH (OR AT LEAST TV commercial.
DC COMICS) © Warner Bros.
The final episode of the series (“Breakout”) aired on
Friday, March 22, 1985, but the comic lasted until issue
#18 (July 1986). Bates and Infantino’s tenure ended
with #16. Writer Paul Kupperberg, penciler Denys
Cowan, and inker Dick Giordano were brought in to
finish out the comic-book series.
The final two issues take place during the time
period of the ongoing television series before Elias
was killed. The story dealt with stolen codes that
give access to the Visitor mothership and a possible
solution to the Visitor’s Red Dust problem. Like the
previous 16 issues, the series’ concluding issues
captured the look and feel of the television series
while providing readers a great adventure.
“Both Paul Kupperberg and Denys Cowan were
looking for work, so I paired them in a two-part
inventory story,” Greenberger says. “When we were
informed the series was being cancelled, I scheduled
that to wrap the run.”
Paul Kupperberg tells BACK ISSUE, “I don’t really have
any particular recollections writing those issues
of V, other than the beautiful Denys Cowan/Dick
Giordano art; I did a lot of fill-ins in those days, and
I wasn’t particularly a fan of or following the TV
show all that closely. were times Jeff and I would discuss issues, but he and
“I watched an episode or two to get a feel for Michael got there too late.
the characters, worked out a plot with Bob, who “To me, the show squandered the potential inherent
was very good filling in any continuity details that in Ken Johnson’s original concepts,” says Greenberger.
I wasn’t aware of, and wrote the story (probably “We did what we could, and think we honored the
plot-first Marvel style).” weekly series while entertaining the fans.”
DC’s V helped expand the world of the Visitors, but The author would like to thank Cary Bates, Robert Greenberger,
Greenberger wanted to do more with the comic than Paul Kupperberg, and Marv Wolfman for their recollections
he was able to accomplish. “I had hoped to explore for this article.
more of the world, as the novels did, but we had to
ED LUTE is a fan of V whether it be a comic book or a television
adhere to the main storylines of the TV show, which
show (which he watched regularly with his father). He is an
floundered. Later in the run, Jeff Walker, a film publicist
elementary school teacher and lover of geeky things. He is
and friend, and his brother Michael were brought currently working on additional articles for BACK ISSUE
in as story consultants to right a sinking ship. There magazine to bring more comic-book history to life.

TM
by Stephan Friedt
Trust Him, “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery,” according Marvin and Felony Squad (1966–1969) with Howard
to Charles Caleb Colton in his 1820 book Lacon, or Duff. Police Squad/Naked Gun was another in a long
He Knows What Many Things in Few Words. Add a little satire, and you line of comedies from childhood friends and successful
He’s Doing might have the beginnings of a successful TV series. trio of David Zucker, Jerry Zucker, and Jim Abrahams.
Get Smart (1965–1970) with Don Adams imitated Television’s Sledge Hammer! (1986–1988), starring
David Rasche as the James Bond movies spy craze. Get Smart gave the David Rasche, imitated the tough-cop genre of movies
Sledge Hammer in genre a comedic spin by adding a touch of Inspector epitomized by Clint Eastwood’s Dirty Harry franchise
Clouseau from the Pink Panther detective movies, and the dramatic TV show Hunter (1984–1991) with
a publicity photo under the guidance of comedic writing masters Mel Fred Dryer.
Brooks and Buck Henry. Sledge Hammer! was created and guided by Alan
for the two-season
The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1964–1968) with Robert Spencer, who at 15 was one of the youngest writers
tough-cop spoof. Vaughn and David McCallum [see RetroFan #15] to join the Writers Guild of America. Influenced by his
brought the James Bond spy gimmick to TV with a friends Marty Feldman and Andy Kaufman, both of
© Alan Spencer Productions, Inc.
more serious intent… most of the time. whom he lost in a short span of time, Spencer vowed
The Police Squad! (1982) TV series and The Naked to do unconventional work in their honor, starting with
Gun (1988–1994) movie series starring Leslie Nielsen Sledge Hammer!
were comedic imitations of the gritty police procedural At the age of 16, Alan wrote a screenplay for
dramas on TV like M Squad (1957–1960) with Lee Sledge Hammer! When the fourth Dirty Harry movie,

Sudden Impact, hit the theaters and TV released SAVIUK: I was a freelancer (and was not going to say
Hunter to capitalize on the antihero-cop theme, no) and since Jim Salicrup was writing it anyway This Comic’s Batty!
Alan presented his script for sale. Leonard and specifically asked me, of course I was Sledge and Dori
Stern, former producer of Get Smart, happy to do it!
recommended it to HBO. After Alan FRIEDT: What setup were you given? Doreau (Anne-Marie
reworked the screenplay to be a half- Did you get to see the show? Read a Martin on the TV
hour TV show, changes that HBO script? Visit the set?
wanted to make were too much for SALICRUP: The show was already show) square off
Alan to live with, so he shopped it on the air, so I may have been given against a gaggle of
around. The series found a home at a few TV scripts, but that’s about it.
ABC-TV, which was in last place in the I watched the show, got the general
goblins—and guest-
ratings and willing to take a chance on idea, and proceeded to write it as star Satana!—on the
a new property from an unproven writer. fast as I could. The thing was, I was
Sledge Hammer! started on ABC in the also editing full-time during the
Alex Saviuk/Bob
fall of 1986, produced through New day, so I had an extremely limited McLeod cover to
World Pictures. New World Pictures jim salicrup amount of time to devote to this.
Sledge Hammer! #1
was originally formed in 1970 by Editor Don Daley was very good at
film director Roger Corman but © Luigi Novi / Wikimedia Commons. hounding me for pages—he was (Feb. 1988).
changed ownership in 1983 and expanded from just able to do it in a way that made me want to get
Sledge Hammer! © Alan Spencer
exploitation films to TV and other media. In November it done quickly, but still be as good as I can make Productions, Inc. Satana and
of 1986, New World purchased Marvel Entertainment it. Writing humor just takes a little longer than the Marvel logo TM & © Marvel.
Group, the parent company of Marvel Comics.
The Sledge Hammer! pilot was released coincidently
at the same time as pop musician Peter Gabriel’s song
“Sledge Hammer” made it big, and Gabriel’s hit was
used in much of the media advertising for the show.
Even though the critics loved the show, it struggled
in the ratings, primarily because of its often-changing
day and time. Sledge Hammer! managed to go to
a second season, but in its second year was put up
against NBC’s top-rated The Cosby Show, and ABC
saddled it with a lower budget and production values,
which contributed to its demise.
But before its end, in an effort to further promote
the show, New World reached out to its subsidiary,
Marvel Comics, and requested a TV tie-in series… and
thus the Marvel comic book two-issue run of Sledge
Hammer! was born.
I had the opportunity to talk via email with two
of the creators of the Sledge Hammer! comic book,
writer Jim Salicrup and artist Alex Saviuk, about their
experience on the short-lived series.
STEPHAN FRIEDT: Sledge Hammer!... Marvel 1988...

two issues... What do you remember of the job?
JIM SALICRUP: It was a very happy experience,
and I enjoyed working with every single person
involved in this particular project. I enjoyed
working on the non-Marvel Universe titles a lot, and
got to work with many of my favorite artists, such
as Marie Severin and Jim Mooney on The A-Team,
Frank Springer on The Transformers, Dan DeCarlo
on KOOL-AID Man, John Costanza on Quik Bunny,
etc. These projects were always a lot of fun for me.
ALEX SAVIUK: I remember doing Web of Spider-Man
fill-ins and going to the office that one fateful day
where Jim said [Web] writer Gerry Conway did not have
a new plot ready yet, would I be interested in doing a
few Sledge Hammer! stories?
FRIEDT: Did you seek out the project or were you picked
to do it?
SALICRUP: Don Daley was the editor, and I guess he
picked me to write Sledge Hammer! either because
he liked my writing—I had previously written an
adaptation of animated series The Inhumanoids,
based on the Hasbro toys, for him—or there was
no one else available to write it. That is how I got
most of my writing assignments at Marvel—I was the
writer of last resort. In the case of Sledge Hammer!,
it is just possible that I said to Don, “Trust me, I know
what I’m doing.”

straight superhero stuff, but I always enjoyed a FRIEDT: What were your parameters? Since the book
challenge. Having been greatly inspired by Harvey featured guests like Spider-Man and Satana, Marvel’s
Kurtzman and the original MAD comics, this stories were not meant to be adaptations of the show
was my chance to finally work in that like so many tie-ins. Did you have restrictions
(jugular) vein. on where you could take the characters?
SAVIUK: Jim was working the “Marvel SALICRUP: I pretty much got to do
way,” so I would receive a plot instead everything I wanted to do, so I do not
of a script. I was very familiar with the remember there being any limitations.
show, and since I had a VCR could Also, it is not easy to fit a 30-minute TV
record some episodes for reference show—live-action or animated—into
since I was provided with only a few a 22-page comics story. It is better to
photographs of the characters. No create something that would work in
Opening Salvo internet, screenshots, or the like [at comics than to do a drastically edited
the time], so it was definitely harder to version of the show.
Writer Jim Salicrup’s get those pics. Never got to meet any SAVIUK: No specific parameters
gagfest begins, of the actors or visit the set (which other than what Jim outlined in the
would have been great to maybe take alex saviuk story plot, but since I knew the show,
with issue #1’s a few of my own photos). We were in if I was inclined to add a sight gag or
splash. Interior inks New York City, and I believe [Sledge Photo by Michael Eury. two, I had that liberty.
Hammer!] was being produced in L.A. [Interviewer’s The first issue was a Halloween story, so the Satana
by Sam de la Rosa. note: It was filmed in L.A. as a stand-in for the series’ character fit in nicely, and in issue #2 Spider-Man was
© Alan Spencer Productions, Inc. setting of San Francisco.] a criminal in a costume, so the character himself was
more implied than anything else. Having “Spidey” on
the cover was obviously an intentional marketing ploy.
FRIEDT: How was it working with each other?
SALICRUP: I greatly admire Alex’s work and loved
working with him on Web of Spider-Man, “Parallel
Lives,” the Spider-Man graphic novel (which I believe
inspired a lot of the first Spider-Man movie) and the
Spider-Ham parody of “Kraven’s Last Hunt” (which I
appear in as Jim Salamander, and Alex is Alex Saviyak).
Alex was a perfect choice for Sledge Hammer!, as he
really understood the humor and was totally into it.
Or, if he was not, he had me fooled!
Alex was able to have all the characters look like
the actors without making it look like MAD magazine
caricatures. Alex was a total dream to work with, and
his artwork was everything I hoped for and more!
SAVIUK: Working with Jim was great. We had already
established a good working relationship and it was
always fun to see him in the office or just chat on the
phone. Really good times back then. He has a great
sense of humor, which came through in his plot and
more so in his dialogue, which I only saw for the first
time when the issue came out since I was not working
from a script. I laughed out loud at of his one-liners,
which made it doubly enjoyable working on the stories.
FRIEDT: What was the script style like? Did you have
leeway to work the pages and give input?
SALICRUP: This was also one of the few times I wrote
“Marvel-style”; I usually wrote full scripts. Writing Sledge
Hammer! this way allowed for me to play off Alex’s
great art, and cram as many gags into each panel as
possible. I don’t even think I typed up a script; I’d place
tracing paper over photocopies of Alex’s pencils,
and letter in the dialogue and captions, and Rick
Parker, the actual letterer, would use that as his script.
Alex had great inkers, as well—Joe Sinnott and Bob
McLeod on covers, Sam de la Rosa on interiors—which
really enhanced his art, capturing everything that
Alex put into it, which was a lot! Rick Parker, instead
of complaining about the tons of copy I was trying to
squeeze in, could not have been nicer, telling me how
much he enjoyed lettering it. Colorist Evelyn Stein did
a great job as well, but I wish we had today’s computer
coloring to do Sledge’s garish sports coats justice.
FRIEDT: Did you expect it to go more than two issues?
What happened? Sales or editorial decisions?
SALICRUP: The reason Marvel was doing a Sledge
Hammer! comic book was to promote the TV series,
which was produced by New World Cinema,

the company that had just purchased Marvel. So it was not Not Necessarily Your Friendly Neighborhood
like anyone at Marvel sought out the rights to publish Sledge
Hammer! In its own way, it is like why Marvel published Star Wars Spider-Man
many years earlier—to publicize the movie. People often forget Only the marginally attentive or grossly intoxicated
or are unaware that the Star Wars comics from Marvel came out
months before the movie.
Marvelite expected Sledge to team up with the “real”
Unfortunately, Sledge Hammer! was no Star Wars. Marvel fans were Spidey in Sledge Hammer! #2. This Saviuk/Joe Sinnott
not looking for a comic that was essentially a Dirty Harry parody, cover also features Captain Trunk, played on TV’s
and unfortunately, neither was the TV audience. I do not know the
real answer to your question, but I suspect Marvel saw this comic as Sledge Hammer! by actor Harrison Page.
something to appease their new owners, and if neither the show nor Sledge Hammer! © Alan Spencer Productions, Inc. Spider-Man and Marvel logo TM & © Marvel.
the comic was a hit, there was no reason to do it anymore. But if I
could have been able to
work with the same editorial not ask for any higher
and creative team and praise than from Sledge
continue Sledge Hammer!, Hammer himself.
I would have loved it! SAVIUK: Two memorable
SAVIUK: As creators, both bits from the first issue
of us believed it would go in particular: on page
longer than two issues, one a bad guy pulls back
but I would imagine the shower curtain and
sales were once again the exclaims: “It’s showtime!”
deciding factor. So, you And the girl in the shower
see, even having Spider- replies, “I don’t care if
Man on the cover of #2 it’s HBO…” I loved that
did not help. Anytime a reference. And further
fun project gets the axe along, Sledge was in a
it is disappointing, but gym and two guys were
there were many years of at a weightlifting machine.
Web of Spider-Man ahead The lifter was struggling
for me! with the weights and the
FRIEDT: Any favorite mem- spotter/trainer exclaims,”
ories of the experience? GOOD SCREAM! Now
SALICRUP: As I said, give me ten more,” or
at the time I was also something like that. Again,
editing comics full-time very funny.
during the day. One of Also, at one point the
the titles I edited was lead actor David Rasche
Marvel Age Magazine was starring in an off-
(as I always called it), Broadway play in NYC
which kept me in touch and Jim had tickets to go
with Stan Lee, who was see it. I could not make it,
in L.A. while I was in unfortunately, especially
Marvel’s NYC offices, since Jim got to go
on a regular basis, as he backstage and meet David
wrote an ongoing “Stan’s who said he enjoyed both
Soapbox” column for the the stories and the art.
mag. I was talking to his That would have been fun
assistant at some point, as to at least sign a book for
she told me that she was him, if not give him a page
at some New World party of the art.
of some sort—I think it
was a charity event—and In the grand scheme
she got to speak to David of things, both the Sledge
Rasche, the actor who Hammer! TV show and the
played Sledge Hammer, Marvel Comic were well-
and he supposedly raved loved by their fans, but
about the comics saying short-lived.
that whoever wrote the
comics should be writing
the TV show, as he thought
the comics were funnier.
Of course, I was very
flattered, but I was trying
to base what I was writing on the style of the TV show, with maybe STEPHAN FRIEDT has been around comics for a long,
more corny gags added. A few years later I got to meet Mr. long time. A former columnist for The Buyer’s Guide
Rasche in person, backstage when he was performing in David for Comic Fandom, he has contributed to Alter Ego
Mamet’s play, Speed the Plow, on Broadway. He was full of praise and the Grand Comics Database and is the senior
database administrator for www.comicspriceguide.
for the Sledge Hammer! comics. He autographed my copies and com. And he still finds time to hold real jobs and be
told me if I had written the TV show, it would have still been on at the beck and call of a wife and two daughters in his
the air. He did not look down at the comics at all, and I could secret identity as a resident of the Pacific Northwest.

LOOK! UP ON THE TV SCREEN!
I still remember anxiously awaiting the start of the new
television season back in the fall of 1988. As a science-
fiction fan, I was really excited that year because the
success and popularity of Star Trek: The Next Generation’s
first season opened the door for a whole flood of new
genre-based shows making their debuts in syndication
on local television stations across America. Number one
at the top of the list of shows I was most excited for
was Superboy. As it turned out, a strike by the Writer’s
Guild of America delayed the start of the new television
season, for many shows by about two months. As fate
would have it, the producers of Superboy, the father-son
team of Alexander and Ilya Salkind, had signed an Interim
Agreement, which meant they agreed to the terms the
WGA demanded and that allowed the show to get a
jump on all the other programs that debuted that year.
Superboy would last four seasons and 100 episodes,
by Dan Johnson
a very respectable run at the time for both a series based
on a comic book and a show airing in syndication. In the
wake of the Superboy launch, DC Comics decided to
produce a comic book tie-in. Running for 22 issues
(cover-dated from Feb. 1990 to Feb. 1992), Superboy:
The Comic Book, changed to The Adventures of Superboy
with #11 (Dec. 1990) to reflect the television series’
name change of the same, stands out as one of the
best produced and most successful tie-in books DC
Comics based on one of their properties. Set in the
continuity of the television series, the Superboy comic
book produced some fun stories and was able
to build on this unique and different take
on the Superman mythos.
IN THE BEGINNING…
The man responsible for writing the
bulk of Superboy: The Comic Book was
John Francis Moore, 12 issues in total.
“In 1989, I shared an apartment with
Art Thibert, who was inking one of
the Superman books that Mike Carlin
edited,” Moore relates to BACK ISSUE.
“In pre-cell phone days, Art and I
shared a landline, so I got to know
john francis moore
Mike a little bit just by answering the
phone when he called for Art. Mike Facebook.
may not remember, but I had met him a few years
earlier when I worked as Howard Chaykin’s assistant.
He, Carl Potts, and Steve Oliff had come by Howard’s LA
home studio while Howard was doing The Shadow for
DC. I was looking for work and Mike said he was taking
pitches for the Superboy TV comic. I liked the idea of
writing a non-DC continuity Superboy and put together
Kev and Ty’s Temple of

Superboy Covers
One of the joys of the Superboy TV tie-in series
was their cover art, 20 (of 22 total) of which
were penciled by Kevin Maguire and inked
by Ty Templeton (issue #1 featured a photo
cover, and #13’s cover was penciled by Paris
Cullins and inked by Templeton). Behold!
TM & © DC Comics.

a couple story ideas. Mike liked them, which resulted in “I regret that I never met Mooney or Swan while I was
me writing about a dozen issues for him. I don’t think working on the book,” says Moore. “I introduced myself
Mike was initially looking for a single writer for the to Jim Mooney at [San Diego] Comic-Con a few
book, but it worked out for me, and was a years later. His wife looked at me suspiciously
great first solo assignment at DC.” when I said I wrote Superboy comics he had From Syndication
Another creator who was on the book worked on, until I explained I wrote the
from the beginning, and who stayed 1989 Superboy TV comic.”
to Comic Shops
with it until the end, was inker Ty Superboy #1
Templeton. His path to working on the SWAN SONG
book opened up after another project After the first eight issues of Superboy:
(Feb. 1990)
at DC Comics hit a bumpy patch. The Comic Book, Curt Swan came in featured a photo
“I was originally hired at DC to draw to do the bulk of the final issues of
a miniseries spun off from the Blue Devil the series, ten issues in total, including cover starring
book, and when it fell through, DC of- #9–12 (Oct. 1990–Jan. 1991), #14–17 Gerard Christopher
fered me a bit of inking work to keep (Mar.–June 1991) and the final issue,
me busy, since my original job offer #22 (Feb. 1992). He would also as the Teen of Steel
wasn’t there anymore,” says Templeton. ty templeton return for The Adventures of Superboy and Stacy Haiduk
“I started inking Booster Gold with Dan Special (June 1992). “Curt Swan was
Jurgens and meshed with him rather Gage Skidmore. “my” Superman artist growing up,” as Lana Lang.
well. As Dan moved over to the Superman office, I kind of says Kupperberg. “[He was] the main artist on the TM & © DC Comics.
went with him, and started inking him on The Adventures
of Superman. Once I was under Mike Carlin’s office, I
started inking tons of Superman stuff, over everybody
there. The Superboy book was part of inking in the
Superman office, and when it came up, I was delighted.”
LEGENDS AT WORK
One of the great things about Superboy: The Comic
Book was that the book enlisted two pencilers who
were both familiar with the Superman Family: Jim
Mooney and later, Curt Swan. “I was excited to work
with Jim Mooney and Curt Swan,” says John Moore
about the men who brought his stories to life. “I was a
huge fan of Mooney’s ’70s Marvel work on Man-Thing
and Omega the Unknown, and Curt Swan’s Superman
is the iconic Superman. I was working Marvel-style
(plot-pencils-script), and it was a pleasure seeing their
penciled pages because they were such consummate
storytellers. I was a novice, learning my craft on the
book, and they made the stories so much better with
their skill and craft. I [also] loved Ty Templeton’s work
on both Jim Mooney and Curt Swan’s pencils, so let
me say publicly, I loved his inkwork on the book. He
absolutely made both Jim and Curt’s pencils sing.”
“OH, MR. MOONEY!”

Jim Mooney started on Superboy: The Comic Book as
its first regular penciler and did the first eight issues.
He would return to work on issues #18–20 (July–Oct.
1991). He didn’t get much of a chance to interact
with his co-creators. “Jim Mooney [drew my second
Superboy story for this series], which was a great thrill
for me,” says Paul Kupperberg, one of the fill-in writers
who contributed to Superboy towards the end of
its run. “I grew up on Mooney’s work, especially on
the 1960s Supergirl strip in Action Comics, which was
one of my favorite strips at the time. But there was zero
interaction between me and the artists on these stories,
which was the way that generation of comic creators
worked: Writer turns in the script to the editor and the
editor gives the script to the penciler. If the writer and
the editor have done their jobs, there shouldn’t be any
reason for the artist to need to talk to anybody, and if
he does, it’s probably going to be the editor, the boss.”
Templeton had more reason to interact with Mooney
than anyone outside of the editorial department, but
never received that opportunity. “I didn’t get a chance
to interact with Jim at all, didn’t even talk on the
phone,” recalls Templeton. “I’m not sure why that was,
but with Jim, I got the pages, inked ’em, and sent ’em
back, thrilled to death to be working with a legend.”

character, along with Al Plastino and Wayne Boring. together to get an autograph, the first one I’ve ever
Legendary I liked all their work, but Curt’s Superman was the asked for! The only thing I could find was a copy of
most human and accessible to me, like he had caught The Greatest Superman Stories Ever Told that was sitting
Superman Artists the essence, if not the likeness, of George Reeves on on Mark Waid’s desk, and I told him I’d buy him a new
(left) Supergirl artist the printed page. [Again,] there wasn’t a lot of work one. Both Curt and Murphy graciously signed that
interaction between writers and artists in those days, copy (which I still have) and I got to chat with Curt for
Jim Mooney was but I did get to meet him several times when he a while. He really liked working with me, thought we
paired with inker made some of his rare visits to DC from his had a very compatible style, and suggested we
home in Westport, Connecticut, or at a do other things together, which led to a pair
Ty Templeton on couple of comic-cons. He was every bit of Legion stories (one of which I wrote)
John Francis Moore’s as nice a man as you could have hoped and an issue or two of Action.”
for in the guy who could draw such Templeton went on to recall some
earlier issues of Su- a lovable Superman. Friendly, funny, other occasions when he got to
perboy. Page 2 from gregarious… on the flight home from speak with Swan because of his work
a Kansas City convention in the ’80s on this series. “I got to talk to Curt
issue #2. (right) John we’d both attended, Curt turned our on the phone once or twice during
little section of the plane, including our all-too-brief collaborations,” says
Moore introduced several other convention guests on their Templeton. “Simple stuff like asking
the Phantom Zone way home, into a party. He even got how to interpret something in a
me a date with my seatmate.” drawing, really basic. Now, since
into the TV Superboy Templeton also shares with BACK paul kupperberg Curt Swan was my bedrock favorite
comic’s continuity in ISSUE his great story about meeting
artist as a young child, this was like
Swan for the first time and interacting talking directly to god, as far as I was
issue #9 (Oct. 1990). with him outside of his work on the comic book. “Curt I concerned. I was singing duets with a Beatle.”
Art by Curt Swan, no got to meet during one of my trips to New York. He was The opportunity to ink on Superboy led to Templeton
up at the office at DC delivering pages for something working with the definitive Superman artist in what he
stranger to the Su- else (not our book) and I saw him in the hallway, talking thought at the time would be his final go at the Man of
perman family, and to Murphy Anderson, who was in the offices all the time Steel. “When Curt specifically asked me to ink his last
since he was in charge of coloring so many of the books issue of Action (it turned out not to be, but at the time
Ty Templeton. back then. Swanderson was standing right there! So I he thought it was), I considered it the highlight of my
TM & © DC Comics.
ran through the office looking for one of their issues career up until that time,” says Templeton. “The last

Long Live the…
Mazerunners?
John Moore’s
tribute to the Legion
of Super-Heroes,
the Mazerunners,
first appeared in
issue #5 and
returned here,
in Superboy #15
(Apr. 1991). Here,
Superboy teams
with the teen heroes
in the year 2240.
Original art penciled
and signed by
Curt Swan (inked
by Ty Templeton),
courtesy of Heritage
Comics Auctions
(www.ha.com).
TM & © DC Comics.

panel of that issue includes a Clark-Kent-winking-at-the-reader
panel—I still have that page and will own it until I die.”
Templeton also got to share in another honor because of his
association with Swan. “I also got to ink Curt’s last-ever Legion
story” [“The Little Clubhouse That Could,” Secret Origins #46,
Dec. 1989—ed.], says Templeton. “The last panel for that story is a
group shot of all 27 Legionnaires waving goodbye at the reader.
When Curt died, I packed that page up and sent it to Mark Waid
as a gift, as he was the world’s greatest Legion fan. I’m happy
Mark has it, but I kind of wish I’d held onto that one, too.”
Even though Swan was no longer the Superman artist of choice
at DC by the time he did the Superboy tie-in comic book, he had
least had the chance to end his time at the company working with
creators who had a great deal of respect for his work. “[This] was
toward the tail end of Curt’s career, and like anyone heading into
their retirement, I’m sure he was happy for the work on familiar
characters,” says Templeton. “Carlin and Waid were my editors
at the time, so yes, I can testify that both of them loved Curt’s
work and wanted to use him on a bunch of stuff.”
EASY FLYING
The experience of doing a tie-in book can easy or difficult
depending on how much feedback a publisher gets from
producers. Sometimes there are producers who want to
micromanage every aspect of their production. Other times, a
lot of freedom is given to the people who are creating products
based on someone else’s work. The latter would appear to be
the case with Superboy: The Comic Book.
A few of the creators I interviewed for this article mentioned
that then-DC editors Mike Carlin and Andy Helfer were invited
to visit the set for the show down in Florida, but other than that,
things were kept loose for the book and there wasn’t a lot of
feedback from the Salkinds. “When I started writing Superboy,
there was no input from the TV show’s producers,” says John
Moore. “In comparison to other licensed properties, the Salkinds
were, to my knowledge, remarkably hands-off as well as
generously keeping DC in the loop during the production. I don’t
think the TV producers were concerned at all with the comic. If I
had to alter anything because of the TV continuity, it was minor.”
“[I have] no idea what influence the producers may have
had on the comic,” says Paul Kupperberg. “That’s above my
pay grade as the writer. And, as I recall, I pitched my ideas
to Mike, and he picked the ones he liked. Again, this was
Famous Monster- essentially a ‘licensed’ comic, so nobody went into the
assignment looking to be groundbreaking or controversial.
Masher of One of the restrictions with a television show or movie
Filmland back in the day was that there was zero chances of crossovers
with other established superheroes, which is something we
(top) Guest writer take for granted in a world that has given us the MCU and
Paul Kupperberg the Arrowverse. This appears to be one of the few restrictions
placed on the writers for Superboy: The Comic Book. “I think I
brought Sunburst had free range to use characters in the Superman universe,
into the pages but I couldn’t bring in other DCU mainstays like Bruce Wayne
or Diana Prince,” says Moore. “I could’ve slipped in a reference
of Superboy #18 to Gotham without ruffling feathers. I could use characters
established in the TV show, and since this wasn’t DCU, I could
(July 1991), do variations on other characters like Bizarro.”
retooling (bottom) “Nobody ever told me I couldn’t introduce other DC characters
into the stories,” says Kupperberg. “Because the book was
a character he had essentially a ‘licensed’ property based on the TV show Superboy,
introduced in the and not the DCU Superboy, it never occurred to me to try.”
I was most curious to know more about any restrictions on the
early 1980s in the use of other DC Comics characters when I started out working on
New Adventures of this article because of a group of characters that Moore created for
the his run on this book: The Mazerunners, a trio of super-teens
Superboy series. from the future who come back in time to invite the Boy of Steel
TM & © DC Comics. to join their group. The trio—Shift, Tara, and Wildstar—made two
appearances during Moore’s run, in issue #5 (June 1990) and issue
#15 (Apr. 1991). It was obvious to those versed in DC lore that
this was a stand-in for the Legion of Super-Heroes. But what was
the story behind them? “One of my favorite comic discoveries as a

kid in the mid-1970s was Cary Bates and Dave Cockrum’s Superboy Bring on the Bad Guy
and the Legion of Super-Heroes,” says Moore. “Even though [the post-
Crisis] Superboy had been retconned out of the LSH, I thought I could Comedian Gilbert Gottfried teamed with writer/comedian
play with the basic idea (superpowered teens from the future) in this Scott Lobdell for the origin of a villain Gottfried played on
book without using the actual Legion. Also, I was a fan of the Keith
Giffen/Mary and Tom Bierbaum Legion run of that era in which the the TV series in Superboy #20 (Oct. 1991). Ye ed (a former
Legion were older and the United Planets was a darker and more DC editor) fondly recalls a Friday evening back in ’90 or
dangerous place, so the Mazerunners were a nod to that Legion as
well. The Mazerunners story was a way to do a Legion inspired story
’91 when Lobdell brought Gottfried to the DC offices
without being tied to Legion or Superman continuity.” for a meeting with the Superman office, where Gilbert
dropped in to random offices to meet yours truly and
MOVING ON
Moore stayed with Superboy for the first 12 issues and then took a the other editors working after hours that night.
two-issue break with stories by Tom Peyer and Jonathan Peterson in TM & © DC Comics.
appearing in issues #13 and 14 (Feb. and Mar. 1991). He would return
to do two more issues of the
comic, #15 and 16 (Apr. and this take of the Teen of Steel,
May 1991), and then left the though. “Mike Carlin, hands
title for good. The work on this down one of the best editors
comic was a huge opportunity DC has had, was always
to begin with and it ended supportive of my ideas,” says
up opening doors for him in Moore. “That may have been
television writing, beginning because he was overseeing the
with the Superboy television tight continuity of the three
series itself. “I believe [it was] (later four) Superman books
Mike Carlin [who] put me in and was happy to have at
touch with Stan Berkowitz, who least one book that was less
was head writer on the third logistically complex. I should
season of Superboy,” says Moore. also say that Mike’s assistant
“In the summer of 1990, I editor, Jonathan Peterson, was
pitched a few ideas to him and also a great guy to have in the
he liked an alternate-world story editorial corner.”
that he was going to have
me develop. Before I did any BATTING CLEAN-UP
further work on the story for Paul Kupperberg would
Stan, Howard Chaykin and I come in right after Moore
were hired as story editors on departed for good. “I’m
the CBS Flash television series. sure my previous experience
Stan, knowing that I wouldn’t writing the pre-Crisis New
have time to work with him Adventures of Superboy didn’t
while I was on staff at another hurt, but I don’t remember
TV show, developed my idea it being a factor in getting
into ‘The Road Not Taken,’ a the assignment,” says
very different story concept on Kupperberg. “I don’t recall
which he generously shared the circumstances, but it was
story credit. So I owe my story likely me making the rounds of
credit on those two episodes editors and asking if they had
and the occasional residual anything for me and Mike,
check to Stan Berkowitz being maybe needing a fill-in saying,
an upstanding professional ‘Hey, that’s right, you used to
and good guy.” write Superboy!’”
As for the other ideas that As Kupperberg mentions,
Moore pitched to the Superboy he was an old hat at writing
series, one would end up being for the Teen of Steel and even
used in the comic book he if the situations in the comic
was writing. “My original idea book and the television series
didn’t go to waste,” says Moore. “It was the basis for the were a bit different, it was an assignment he slipped into
Superboy and Luthor story in issues #9 and 10 (Oct. and easily enough. “Not to be glib, but coming up with stories
Nov. 1990).” This two-part story (Part One titled “… is my job,” says Kupperberg. “With some characters, it
That Signpost Up Ahead… Next Stop… the Phantom may take more effort than with others, but with one
Zone” and Part Two titled “Superboy’s Pal Lex like Superboy, it’s not that tough. I love Superman and
Luthor?”) saw Superboy exploring the Phantom the whole family of pre-Crisis characters, right down
Zone and losing his powers there. In the end, he to Beppo the Super-Monkey. No. Especially Beppo
needed his archenemy to regain them. As it turned the Super-Monkey! So stories aren’t a problem.”
out, this would be the only mention of the Phantom As for the stories themselves, they really did draw
Zone in the Superboy comic or in conjunction in on Kupperberg’s past with Superboy. “The first one,
anyway with the television series. ‘The Superboy File,’ was right out of the [Silver Age
When asked about any stories he never got to tell, Superman editor] Mort Weisinger playbook, a series
Moore states, “It’s been so long I don’t remember of bizarre mishaps that turn out to be someone, Lex
what I might have had planned.” The writer does gilbert gottfried Luthor, trying to surreptitiously weed out Superboy’s
recall the support he got as the primary writer on Super Festivals. secret identity from the university’s student body.

“For the second story, ‘Soon to be a Major only lasted another three or four issues after my two
Motion Picture,’ I revisited a character I’d created [stories],” says Kupperberg. “I probably knew it was on
for New Adventures of Superboy #45–47 (Sept.–Nov. the block. I was on staff at the time as an editor, so I’d
1983), Sunburst,” says Kupperberg. “The old series’ have gotten the memo. Not that it would have made
Sunburst was a Japanese action movie hero who had any difference to how I wrote the stories. You try to do
inhaled volcanic fumes as a baby that manifested your best whether it’s a first issue or a last.”
as real solar powers when he was an adult. Then Before the final issue ran, the book would bring in
he was blackmailed by bad guys into using his a special writer for issue #20 (Oct. 1991), comedian
Somebody Call powers for evil, and superheroic hilarity ensued. Gilbert Gottfried. “When I was a kid I wanted to be a
The new Sunburst was an amateur filmmaker whose cartoonist for a while,” said Gottfried on his podcast,
the Weather Gilbert Gottfried’s Amazing Colossal Podcast, where he
low-budget student superhero film had realistic ‘special
effects’ because he possessed a magic talisman that discussed this story. “I wrote [the Superboy story],
Channel! gave him real powers. Then he was harassed by bad and like the schmuck I am, I should have collected
Kevin Dooley guys who wanted to steal the magic talisman like a thousand copies of it.” The story Gottfried
for their own evil use, and superheroic co-wrote, along with Scott Lobdell, was “The
scripted the hilarity ensued. Kurt Schaffenberger Secret (Until Now) Origin of Nicknack,”
penultimate issue could have drawn either of these where the actor got to present the
stories with no problem!” backstory for the supervillain that
of the series, By the time Kupperberg was he played in two episodes of the
Superboy #21 writing his stories for the comic, plans Superboy television series.
were already in the works to cancel The writing duties for the final two
(Dec. 1991), which the book. Shortly after Kupperberg’s issues would fall to Kevin Dooley and
was guest-penciled issues ran, Superboy was dropped Joey Cavalieri, respectively. “I didn’t
from monthly to bimonthly status. know the series had been cancelled
by Peter Krause. Also, the show was already entering when I proposed the story,” said Dooley
TM & © DC Comics. production of its final season. “It about his work on the book. “Hope
it wasn’t cancelled because of me!”
kevin dooley Dooley’s story, “Fire and Ice,”
worked with an interesting premise
Facebook.
that has been a few times in the
Superman mythos. “The way I approached the story
was Superboy dealing with one of his powers being
out of control and him wrestling what happens when
he becomes a menace? Is he still a hero?” Although
Dooley only wrote the one issue of the comic book,
he does recall walking away with a nice souvenir from
this assignment, the cover for this issue, which he
got from Templeton.
FLYING OFF INTO THE SUNSET

The Adventures of Superboy ended its run with
issue #22 (Feb. 1992). DC Comics did produce
one final comic devoted to the television series,
The Adventures of Superboy Special #1. The comic,
written by television series writer Stan Berkowitz,
explained how all the episodes of the television
series and its tie-in comic book were the fan fiction
of a Clark Kent of another Earth. It was an interesting
and original way to wrap up this incarnation of the
Teen of Steel to say the least.
For the longest time after the Superboy television
series concluded its run in the spring of 1992, episodes
of the show were hard to come by until they were
finally released on DVD and through DC’s streaming
service. Superboy is a fun take on the Superman mythos
and one I recommend searching out, as well as the
comic book it is based on. Like the show, the Superboy
tie-in comic was a lot of fun, and it was great to
see greats like Jim Mooney and
Curt Swan shine one last time.
DAN JOHNSON is a comics writer

and pop-culture historian. He
is a co-founder, editor, and
writer for Empire Comics Lab
(empirecomicslab.com) and Old
School Comics. Dan has written
for Antarctic Press, Campfire
Graphic Novels, Golden Kid
Comics, InDELLible Comics, and
ACP Comics and is a writer for the
Dennis the Menace comic strip.

TM
BLAST OFF INTO SPACE

If there was ever a television series ripe for adapting
into comic-book form, it was Lost in Space. With
a story format effectively allowing any type of
adventure on any planet in the galaxy, a great
ensemble cast of characters, spaceships, robots,
colorful costumes, and plenty of action, it could have
easily fitted in many a comic-book company lineup
by Ian Millsted in the 1960s. So why did it take until the 1990s for
a Lost in Space comic book? That story has as many
changes of direction as the initial journey of the
Jupiter 2 spacecraft. This author ignores the robotic
cry of “danger” and investigates further.
Part of the reason for the absence of a comic-
book adaptation of Lost in Space is that comic
books, sort of, got there first. Gold Key had
published Space Family Robinson starting in 1962,
while the Irwin Allen-produced television series
didn’t start until 1965. Both series are clearly using
an obvious “Swiss Family Robinson”-in-space
concept with, perhaps, elements also borrowed
from Heinlein’s “The Rolling Stones.” With Space
Family Robinson already out there, especially after
the tagline ‘Lost in Space’ was added, there was
little point in anyone licensing the rights to the
TV show. Lost in Space ran on television until
1968 and subsequently voyaged into the realm
of syndication and fond memory. Space Family
Robinson lasted as an original series until 1977,
with reprints appearing, erratically, until 1982.
WELCOME STRANGER
The curious relationship between the two series
continued. Bill Mumy, who had starred as Will
Robinson in Lost in Space, shares
the story of a false start with
BACK ISSUE: “Jim Shooter
was running Valiant and
asked me if I wanted to
write the Space Family
Robinson book for
him. I’d worked with
Jim at Marvel and he
always treated me
very well. It wasn’t ‘my’
Robinson family, but I
got into it. I wrote up
a treatment for the arc
of the first year. Jim bill mumy
dug it. We were going
to proceed and find Gage Skidmore.
an artist for it, but then things went weird for him
and he left Valiant. So it never happened.”
An Innovative Journey
Innovation’s Lost in Space bypassed the TV
series’ later campiness for daring and often
sexy adventures. Cover art by Mike Okamoto
(issues #1, 4–8), Jason Palmer (#2), Jerome
K. Moore (#3), and Mike Deodato, Jr. (#13).
Lost in Space © Space Productions.

At this point David Campiti and the Innovation comic-
Them! (The book company enter the narrative. Campiti explains his
Other Robinsons) involvement: “Innovation had already dived into licensing
bestselling novels; we were adapting Anne Rice’s The Vampire
Even though it bore
Lestat and had Interview with a Vampire and The Queen of
a “Lost in Space” the Damned and The Master of Rampling Gate on tap and
were doing Child’s Play and Nightmares on Elm Street and even
subtitle for much
the 3X3 Eyes manga project. As a next logical step, I went to
of its lifespan, my first-ever licensing fair in New York City and was meeting all
Gold Key’s long- the licensors. Viacom was one of many. A fellow named Howard
Berk was handing out folders of licensing info, and as I scanned
running Space Family through their list, Lost in Space jumped out at me.
Robinson, which “I already knew Bill Mumy a little bit. I’d had dinner with
him and Miguel Ferrer a couple of times,
featured characters and I recalled him telling me how he
different from the struggled in vain to get Irwin Allen to
do a continuation of the show, and
TV show, predated he’d even pushed both Marvel
Irwin Allen’s Lost and DC to get the license, but
they’d failed. I also remembered
in Space. Issue #33 how, months earlier, I’d read
(Apr. 1969) cover by a press release about how Jim
Shooter—then at Valiant—had
George Wilson. called Bill Mumy about writing
TM & © Random House, Inc. a Lost in Space comic book that
turned out to be Gold Key’s old
Gaylord Dubois-created Space
Family Robinson: Lost in david campiti
Space that seemed to be the
unspoken source material for the
TV show. At that moment, I thought, ‘Omigod! What if I could
get this for Bill Mumy to write?’
“So I introduced myself and asked if Lost in Space was
available for licensing as a comic book, and Howard Berk said,
‘Sure! What did you have in mind?’ Oh, crap. What do I do
now? Thinking on my feet, I blurted out something like, ‘I would
pick up Lost in Space several years after the end of the TV show. I
wouldn’t do it silly and campy—because the first five episodes
of the show were pretty serious, and Dr. Smith was a villain
who tried to destroy the Jupiter 2 and kill the Robinsons. He
was a spy reporting to an alien intelligence that did not want
humans in space. Let’s return to that—he’s had to adapt and
play a fool so they didn’t shove him out an airlock. The silly stuff
on the show was not what happened, it was the way young
Penny wrote of what happened in her diary. So, we’re picking
up several years later, Will and Penny are older, hormones are
raging, she has no boyfriend and plays up to Don, it’s coming-
of-age in the Jupiter 2 while they struggle finally to reach their
destination in Alpha Centauri. And they get there!’
“Howard Berk’s eyes kind of lit up. ‘I love this. This is what
we wanted, a story to re-invigorate a dormant property.’
I told him I thought I could even get original actor Bill Mumy
onboard—and, of course, he was good with that. ‘$3,000
against 10% of the gross,’ he said. We talked terms a little
bit, shook hands, and a couple of weeks later he sent the
contract. Now I had to deliver.”
WISH UPON A STAR

Campiti was the publisher and editor-in-chief of Innovation,
which, as well as the aforementioned licensed titles, published
The Maze Agency (continued from original publisher Comico,
as detailed in BACK ISSUE #2) and the superhero series Hero
Oh, the pain, the pain…

Artist Michal Dutkiewicz’s dead-on likeness of actor
Jonathan Harris—Dr. Smith—on the opening page of
issue #3 (Dec. 1991), Bill Mumy’s first issue as writer.
© Space Productions.

Poster-Worthy Covers
(top) Innovation marketed cover art as
mail-order posters. (bottom) The header
for the lettercol, “Lost in the Mail.” Art by
Matt Thompson. (inset) Issue #4.
Cover art by Mike Okamoto.
Alliance, as well as many other series. The company

was founded by Campiti in 1988 and had achieved a
good level of success. Campiti now moved forward to
add the Lost in Space title to that list.
“To start things off,” Campiti tells BACK ISSUE, “I
had Mike Okamoto paint the promo piece that became
the first issue’s cover—the one with Will, Penny, Judy,
the Robot, and a monster. Mike came up with the
idea of updating their colorful third-season clothing
and making Penny’s blouse have a cleavage window
in the diamond shape. Viacom loved the update. So I
took that original painting and a copy of the licensing
contract to Comic-Con in San Diego in 1990 and told
Bill Mumy we got the rights and wanted him to write
the series. ‘No, you didn’t,’ he said. ‘If Marvel and
DC couldn’t get it, you couldn’t.’ Talk about letting
the air out of our tires! [laughs] I left the contract and
Viacom’s contact info with Bill, asked
him to follow up on his own, and if
he was comfortable that we had the
rights, he was welcome aboard. But
that meant we had to start without
him. I started talking to other
writers. I remember Bob Ingersoll
telling me it was a stupid idea to do
a Lost in Space comic… but later he
got to write issue #12, ‘The Price
of Treason’! Nobody ‘got’ what I
was trying to do at first, so George
Broderick and I wrote a Series Bible
for it. Matt Thompson, an artist on
later issues, co-wrote the first issue
with me, which set up the whole
tone of it. Then George Broderick,
Jr.—usually known for writing and
drawing cartoony projects —turned
out to be a terrific writer on this series!”
Lost in Space #1 (Aug. 1991) arrived with a bold cover
by Mike Okomoto and story by the team of Campiti and
Matt Thompson. The interior art for that first issue is
credited to Eddy Newell, who drew the first five pages,
and Mark Jones. Campiti explains: “[sigh] Eddy Newell
was a terrific young artist who, at the time, looked at
deadlines as merely a vague suggestion. I’d hired him
to draw every issue of the monthly series—doing tonal
pencils, something fairly new to the comics field at the
time—and he was so very late, Matt Thompson ended
up drawing all of #2 by the time we had only the first
part of #1 from Eddy. After hearing nothing from Eddy
for a couple of weeks, I drove the many hours to Eddy’s
home and camped out on his doorstep for an entire
day, well into the evening, before he came home
with his gal. He was shocked to find me there, just
as I was shocked to learn he had zero new pages to
give me. I fired him, and artist Mark Jones stepped in
finish the book in the few days we had left. Although
he went on to have a good career, just how weird was
the situation with Eddy at the time? Weeks AFTER Lost
in Space #1 was already on sale in stores, Eddy mailed

Good Girl Art in the next two pages for that issue! [laughs] Just wild! Control,’ to read the scripts, give advice on dialogue
From that point, purely for expediency, I decided to and characterization, and make sure we didn’t do
Innovation’s have several artists work on the series instead of one anything too stupid. He then wrote what became #3
penchant for cover artist and one interior artist.” That first story, and 4, ‘Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night’ and
“Seduction of the Innocent,” sets the tone for the series ‘People are Strange, When You’re a Stranger.’ Great
good girl art— with the cast all several years older. Innovation had a stuff! And we were on our way to Alpha Centauri!
and occasional reputation for “good girl” art in such series as Hero [laughs]” Mumy recalls, “David Campiti at Innovation
Alliance and Legends of the Stargrazer, and this pattern had a vision for Lost in Space that I liked just fine (with
bondage—was a extended to Lost in Space. While Judy and Penny are the exception of his fetish for good girl T&A artwork!).
hallmark of its Lost portrayed as professional adults, both are also featured I very much enjoyed writing those comic books.”
in fairly provocative poses and in skimpy clothing.
in Space series and By now, Bill Mumy had indicated an interest in RETURN FROM OUTER SPACE
covers, including working on the series and he wrote a text piece for Lost in Space #2 (Nov. 1991) put the focus on the older
this eye-popping the first issue. Campiti, as editor, had scripts for early crew members. Campiti recalls, “George Broderick
issues completed and artists assigned, when Mumy turned out to be a terrific writer on this series! Issue
painting by Joe Jusko “finally called,” as Campiti recalls. “‘Looks like you #2, ‘The Cavern of Idyllic Summers Lost,’ drawn and
on the cover of the do have Lost in Space, after all. When do I start?’ painted by Matt Thompson, told the stories of the
AGGH! We were already so far into it—we had to Robinsons, Don West, and Dr. Smith before they
first Annual. be, to hold to schedule—but having Bill aboard was boarded the Jupiter 2: John and Maureen’s happiness
© Space Productions. so important to me. So we asked him to be ‘Alpha at news they’re gonna have their first baby, Colonel
Zachary Smith and his girlfriend Clarissa, Judy’s dreams
of acting, and so on. A very heartbreaking, emotional,
and even horrifying story.”
Bill Mumy wrote the two-part story for issues
#3 (Dec. 1991) and 4 (Feb. 1992), which were well
illustrated by Michal Dutkiewicz. The second part had
a story assist from Kevin Burns. The crew encounter
aliens at the more unpleasant end of the spectrum.
After that more action-oriented story there was a
change of tone for issue #5 (Mar. 1992). “George
Broderick, Jr. wrote and drew layouts for ‘The Perils of
Penelope,’ which became issue #5,” Campiti says. “It
delivered on my promise to make the stories we saw
on the show to be Penny’s childish diary retellings of
their adventures. Peter Murphy painted the story told
in top half of each page, the way it ‘really’ played out,
and the bottom half, painted by Matt Thompson,
showed us Penny’s more fanciful interpretation of that
adventure.” Terry Collins, who had contributed to the
series Bible, wrote #6 (May 1992). With art by John
Garcia, this tale was an ensemble piece with all crew
members featured using their respective skills to get
the Jupiter 2 en route once more.
The next issue to be released was actually the first
Annual (1992). With a story from Bill Mumy’s sometimes-
writing partner and fellow actor Miguel Ferrer put into
a final script by the combined skills of Mumy, Campiti,
and Broderick, Jr., the first thing to meet the eyes is a
classic, if very good-girl, cover by Joe Jusko. Judy and
Penny are in slave-girl costumes and chained up under
the dubious gaze of the issue’s villain, Bai Lo, who bears
a likeness to Ferrer. The Annual also features a photo
of the majority of the original cast holding copies of
the first two issues. Campiti relates the positive support
he received from cast members: “Thanks to Bill, Major
Don West himself, Mark Goddard, plotted issue #7.
Bill also got the cast to pose with copies of the Lost in
Space comic book, for which I was very appreciative.
“Perhaps my favorite moment was in Atlantic City,
where I got to meet the cast,” Campiti continues.
“I got practically tongue-tied in trying to blurt out
my admiration to Jonathan Harris for his portrayal of
Dr. Smith; from that point, he and I even exchanged
Season’s Greetings cards until he passed on. The cast
said nice things to me about the comic-book revival;
I think they were most comfortable with Bill at the
helm on the issues he wrote.” Goddard’s story for
#7 (June 1992) was scripted by Broderick, Jr. and
illustrated by Dan and Dave Day. That story ends on a
cliffhanger that leads directly into #8 (Aug. 1992) by
the returning Matt Thompson on both story and art.

[Editor’s note: See our sister publication RetroFan #13, DC writer Peter David joined the team to co-write the Familiar Faces
now on sale, for interviews with Lost in Space co-stars second Annual (1993) with Bill Mumy. Jim Key drew the
Mark Goddard and Marta Kristen.] main part of the issue, within some framing pages by (left) LIS cast
Issue #9 (Oct. 1992) was especially noteworthy for Dutkiewicz. Also significant among the credits was the members, 1992,
two reasons. Firstly, the cover was by George Pérez, absence of Campiti as editor following his departure
who will need little introduction to readers of BACK from the company. He was replaced by George with Innovation
ISSUE. “When I asked George to do it,” says Campiti, Broderick, Jr., and the series rolled on, seemingly comics, from
“he jumped at the chance—though with his busy, busy untroubled. The plot of the second Annual is indicated
schedule, ‘jumped’ may be a misnomer. He fit it into his by the title, “Whatever Happened to Baby Bloop?” The Annual #1. (right)
busy schedule around the same time he drew a cover for space-chimp Bloop had been a pet of Penny Robinson
Annual #1 included
a Hero Alliance Special—for which he also inked a story in the series and the aim of achieving some of the tone
called ‘As I Was Going to St. Ives.’ I think George was of the sillier television episodes is successful, with some this pinup by
on a quest to draw every possible character in popular genuinely funny moments.
culture back then!” Secondly, the memorable story by
Flaming Carrot
Bill Mumy and artist Dutkiewicz placed the focus on the A CHANGE OF SPACE creator Bob Burden.
native animal life on the planets visited by the Jupiter A new phase for the series started with the publication
2. Several pages are dialogue-free and the impact of of issue #13 (July 1993). This was the start of what
Flaming Carrot © Bob Burden.
the environmental message through the pictures alone was intended to be a 12-part story arc by Bill Mumy.
are quite affecting. Dutkiewicz continued his strong Michal Dutkiewicz officially became the permanent
art contributions to the series with #10 (Nov. 1992). artist, having already established himself as the most
This issue featured two stories, one by Mumy and the prolific of the rotating team on the first 12 issues. Mike
other from new writer Karen May. May’s story again Deodato, Jr., soon to become much in demand at DC
puts the focus on Penny, and the writing is sympathetic and Marvel, took on the responsibilities for the covers.
to the character. Then, in #11 (Dec. 1992), Judy has This looked like the dream team, and things started well
the spotlight in a story from writer Terry Collins and enough. In story terms, Mumy fashioned a tale that
Dutkiewicz on art again. Issue #12 (Apr. 1993) places saw the Jupiter 2 crew arrive at Alpha Centauri, only
Dr. Smith at the center of both cover and the story. to find that all is not as they would have wished for.
Robert Ingersoll scripted and Matt Thompson drew Mumy uses some authentic science-fiction concepts
the adventure, which finally brought the crew to the and cranks up the action and dramatic consequences.
brink of their initial destination. Established Marvel and There are some great aliens as well.

Robinsons in Crisis 44,000 range after that, if I recall correctly. Enough so that the two
Annuals, the reprints of #1 and 2 as Special Editions, the trade paperback
Lost in Space #9 (Oct. 1992) cover by the one version of Bill’s #3 and 4, the posters, the portfolio, were all no-brainers
to produce. I left Innovation in March of ’93 to launch my Glass
and only George Pérez. House Graphics agency, and Innovation closed its doors the following
© Space Productions. year, in January of ’94. Lost in Space ended at Innovation with #18 of
the regular series, meaning Bill Mumy’s 12-issue arc from #13 to 24 was
left unfinished. Years later,
In #14 (Sept. 1993), John Severin’s son called
the Robot, somewhat me, interested in finishing
underused in the series thus Bill Mumy’s story. Thrilled
far, finally gets some time with that idea, I put him
in the spotlight as well as in touch with Michal
a back-cover poster. Issue Dutkiewicz—who my Glass
#15 (Aug. 1993—yes, the House Graphics agency
cover dates had become a was still representing at
bit eccentric at this point, the time—and the whole
possibly indicating deeper 12-part saga was finally
problems at the company) published.” Bill Mumy also
showed the cast split up remembers, “The Lost in
into smaller teams as they Space book was selling well,
faced a range of challenges. but again, money issues
As in the original television and business stuff I wasn’t
series, Will Robinson is privy to made Innovation
paired up with Dr. Smith, close up shop in the
but the relationship has middle of the night. Took
a significantly different years to see my ‘Voyage
dynamic with Will very to the Bottom of the Soul’
much taking the lead story, which had been
in a bleak environment. completely written, full
Dutkiewicz was really at script, come to fruition.”
the top of his game in That completion came in
these issues. With a quick the form of a graphic novel
rescue seemingly out of collection and completion
the question, the crew of what would have been
start to make the best of issues #13 to 24, from
their situations. Issue #16 Bubblehead Publishing
(Sept. 1993) shows the in March 2006 (but
pairing of Judy Robinson copyrighted for 2005).
and Don West starting to That book is something
make a home together of a rarity and commands
on the forested world to high prices on the collector
which they have been market, but it is a fine story.
sent, while John, Maureen, In fact, the whole
and Penny barely exist in series is something that
an outback-style location. David Campiti looks
Developments continue back on fondly. “Family
apace in #17 (Oct. 1993) relationships, new adven-
and 18 (Nov. 1993), the tures, and finally getting
latter of which contains a the Robinsons to Alpha
nice in-joke for fans of Guy Centuari and seeing what
Williams’ other successful happens from there—that
television series, but then, was amazing stuff, deliver-
despite the cliffhanger ing where the TV show
ending and a prominent never made it. I’m
“to be continued” blurb, quite proud of what
there was no more. At we did. In fact, our Lost
least, not for a long time. in Space comic book
worked so well, so reinvigorated the concept, that Viacom greenlit
THE SKY IS FALLING a deal with New Line for the Lost in Space movie that rolled out a
Innovation had also released the first issue of a two-part spinoff series, few years later. I consulted on the film early on, though the only
Lost in Space: Project Robinson (Nov. 1993), written by Christine things they used were Penny’s diary and some of the redesign
Hantzopulos and with art by Luke Ross and Mike Deodato, Jr.. In terms elements we did to the Robot. Our comic was way better. All of the
of chronology, the spinoff two-parter would fit between the second vastness of space in which to tell a story, and the movie had to do
Annual and #13, but this, too, failed to reach its conclusion, with the time travel? And you know they were off on the wrong foot if they
second part going unpublished. What went wrong? didn’t think Bill Mumy was the right casting to play the adult Will
The problems don’t seem to have been with the title itself. “I think Robinson. Seriously?”
we got up and danced when we saw the first issue’s pre-orders,” says There was a three-part miniseries based on the movie, but that
Campiti. “We sold out of a 66,000-copy print run and went back to do is, essentially, a different franchise and not part of the focus for this
a Lost in Space #1: Special Edition with a new cover and bonus features, article. However, the sun had not yet set on the adventures of the
and we sold a bunch more. The book pretty consistently sold in the Jupiter 2 and its crew.

THERE WERE GIANTS IN THE EARTH
In 2016, American Gothic Press stepped in to publish
six issues of Lost in Space: The Lost Adventures.
American Gothic Press was mainly known for
picking up the mantle of publishing a revived
Famous Monsters of Filmland but was experimenting
with comics as well. Two unfilmed scripts from
Carey Wilber, a writer on the television series, had
been discovered and, with permission from Wilber’s
family, adapted into comics form. Unlike the
Innovation series, this version was set during the run
of the original series, with Will and Penny Robinson
still children. Issues #1 (Feb. 2016)
to 3 (June 2016) contained the story
“The Curious Galactics,” with Holly
Interlandi adapting Wilber’s script
and Kostas Pantoulas providing
the art. This was a father-and-son
adventure with the focus on John I… Robot
and Will Robinson. Issues #4 (Sept.
2016) to 6 (Nov. 2016) veered more (left) Lost in Space #18. (right) Everybody’s favorite
to the camp aspect of the series with mechanical-man has seen better days on this
“Malice in Wonderland.” Patrick
McEvoy took over as artist while page from Lost in Space #14 (Sept. 1993), by Bill
Interlandi continued writing the
adaptations, as well as editing. This
Mumy and Michal Dutkiewicz.
was a Dr. Smith/Will/Penny/Robot (inset) Lost in Space: The Lost
story more closely in line with the
vibe of the third season on television. Adventures #1.
Both of the “lost” stories are well © Space Productions.
presented and anyone who didn’t
take to the updated approach of Innovation might
like to seek these out. BACK ISSUE reached out to Eddy Newell, who did go on to
With the concept having returned to television in a a successful run penciling Black Lightning for DC, but did
new Netflix series, will the adventures of the Jupiter 2 not hear back. With thanks to David Campiti, Bill Mumy, and
Holly Interlandi.
ever return in comic-book form? Anything is possible
when you’re Lost in Space. IAN MILLSTED is a writer and teacher based in Bristol, UK.

[#113]. In fact, it prompted me to send him an email and we’ve
been exchanging since.
Earlier this year I undertook a special project as a tribute
to Roy and Dann Thomas and Jerry Ordway. I endeavored
to publish my very own copy of the previously unpublished
second volume hardcover of Infinity, Inc.’s Generations Saga,
as a companion to the saga’s first volume. You will find below
Send your comments to: a text piece [lightly edited per BI style—ed.] that I wrote as an
Email: euryman@gmail.com (subject: BACK ISSUE) introduction in volume 2.
Postal mail: Michael Eury, Editor-in-Chief • BACK ISSUE
112 Fairmount Way * New Bern, NC 28562 Foreward and Backward from a Lifelong Earth-Two
Find BACK ISSUE on Fan from Earth-Prime
Infinity, Inc.’s Generations Saga means a lot to me as a person
and as a comic-book collector. When it comes to the latter,
the original All-Star Squadron issues that started the whole saga
(and which were included in volume 1) were among the very
first that I bought off the spinner rack in a sequential manner
so that I could read the whole story. When I was growing up
in rural Cape Breton,
THE FLASH ARRIVED Nova Scotia, in order
TOO LATE to get all of those issues
Attached for your in 1983, I had to scour
consideration [for the various convenience
Wally West Flash article stores across the island
in BACK ISSUE #126] is a to get the whole story.
headshot sketch by Mike Just because the meat
Wieringo of the John market in my village
Fox Flash (co-created by had All-Star Squadron
Mike Parobeck for the #24 did not mean that
Flash 50th anniversary it would get #25, which
issue). Mike did this for I was only able to get at
me at his last appearance a delicatessen two hours
at the Baltimore Comic- away in Sydney. My
Con the year before he mind was completely
passed away. He had to blown away a year later
look at the reference I in the summer of 1984
supplied him, so this is when I was visiting
certainly his first and family in Boston and
maybe his only version Waltham, Massachusetts.
of this character. I discovered the first
– Matthew G. Mann, Sr. direct-market stores I had
ever seen. It was at one
This is a rare case of the of the stores on Moody
Flash not showing up Street in Waltham that
in time, as Mr. Mann I beheld glossy, high-
submitted this sketch as quality, brightly colored
BI #126 was in its final copies of Infinity, Inc. #4
stages of production. But and 5. I was hooked, but
how could I not share it how was I going to get
with readers, particularly issues #1–3 and issues 6
given its pedigree and and beyond? These did
out unending love of not seem to be the kind of
Mike Wieringo’s art. books that would be sold
Thank you, Matthew, on the newsstand or on
for submitting it. a spinner rack at a local
Another loyal BACK meat market. Thankfully, I
ISSUE reader, Wade AuCoin, discovered direct-market
submitted the following stores and flea markets
message for publication in the larger cities in my
in BI #126, the “Legacy” province, and started a
Flash TM & © DC Comics.
issue, but it arrived after newspaper route to help
the issue had been completed and when issue #127 was already in pay for these more expensive books. All of this eventually allowed
production, and appears below: me to complete the Infinity, Inc. issues of the Generations Saga
years later, and I just kept collecting that series, and other Earth-
INFINITY, INC.’s ‘GENERATION SAGA’ Two titles such as All-Star Squadron, America versus the Justice
I want to congratulate and encourage you on your excellent Society, Young All-Stars, Secret Origins, The Last Days of the Justice
publication. Your recent Titans anniversary issue [#122] was great Society, the All-Star Archives, back issues of the All-Star and
and perfectly timed for me as I am reading the entire Wolfman- Adventure JSA revival issues from the 1970s, and more recently
Pérez run, and loving it. The history of Mon-El and other Legion all four of the TwoMorrows All-Star Companions, not to mention
goodies [#120] was also very good, and I enjoyed your feature by post-Crisis New Earth titles such as Starman, Dr. Fate, Spectre,
Steve Englehart about the 1989 Batman movie in an earlier issue JSA, Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E., and the new generation of JSAers.

As a person back on what used to be known as Earth-
Prime, the parts of the “Generations” story that spoke most
strongly to me when I was young was the deep-seated need Various views of
for me to stake out my own ground on important economic Wade AuCoin’s
issues facing my generation in my region despite how big
the previous generation’s shadow was on those issues. Dick custom Infinity,
Grayson becoming Nightwing in [The New Teen Titans’] “Judas Inc. collected
Contract” evoked the same sense of independence for me
when I was reading it at the time. Also, the great darkness edition, plus its
brought on by the 2020 calamities of Covid-19, racial injustice,
and bankrupted political leadership prompted me to want to FDR poster.
re-read the “Generations Saga” as a way to help inspire me and Infinity, Inc. TM & ©
give me hope for a better tomorrow. I discovered that the first DC Comics.
part of the saga had been reprinted in a hardcover identified as Poster © Roosevelt Campobello
volume 1, a title usually used to foreshadow a second volume. International Park.
But alas, I was disappointed to learn that volume 2 was never
published. So, rather than pull out my pristine mint copies of
the original issues, I decided to read the hardcover, and track
down cheaper reading copies of the issues that would have
been in volume 2. When I was finally able to amass those issues
of Infinity, Inc. in Prince Edward Island in July 2020, the thought
dawned on me that I could produce my own copy of volume 2.
In August 2020, I started reading volume 1. It so happened
that I had my copy of it with me when my family and I visited
a very special place in what is now my home province of New
Brunswick, and that place is Campobello Island. You see, that
island is the home of Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s summer
cottage. While visiting the interpretive center in the international
park, I showed the very well-informed tour guides page 82 of
volume 1 where FDR, having been saved by members of the
All-Star Squadron and Infinity, Inc., proceeds to tell them about
the JSA’s current status, all masterfully written by Roy Thomas and
beautifully rendered by Jerry Ordway. They were very surprised
and excited because they had never seen FDR in comic books.
In exchange for having taught them about FDR’s importance
in comics, one of the guides was kind enough to give me a
unique poster of FDR and his young family when they visited
their cottage on their “beloved island,” a reproduction of which
is presented on the following page. I was told that the pictures
on the poster are from as early as the 1920s. I was also told that
FDR visited the cottage three times while he was president: once
in 1933, then in 1936, and finally in 1939. I have to think that
there is a story waiting to be told by Roy and Jerry on how FDR’s
secret trips to his cottage in Canada was all part of a plan to put
the wheels in motion for superheroes like Wonder Woman and
others to emerge as defenders of America by orchestrating the
military missions of Steve Trevor so that he would be travelling
close to Paradise Island. And if you go back to the 1920s, maybe
FDR was secretly working with his top scientists to make sure that
alien rockets coming in from space like the one from Krypton
bearing Kal-L landed in the United States instead of communist
Russia or World War I-ravaged Germany.
In my own small way, I want to expand the temporal reach of the
“Generations Saga.” The original saga spanned a period of about
40 years from about 1942 to 1983. By producing this homemade
version of volume 2 in 2020 and including the poster of FDR in the
1920s, I will have extended the timespan of the story by about 60
years to cover just about a full century!!! It is just my very humble
way of saying a heartfelt thank you to Roy and Jerry for a lifetime
of inspiration and enjoyment. I also want to thank Ruth Legge from
Nova Scotia for binding the books in volume 2 and Jesse Giffin from
Moncton for the work on the dustjacket.
– Wade AuCoin PÉREZ A HIT, BUT NO MORE LISTS PLEASE
Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada I just finished reading BACK ISSUE #122 and wanted to thank you
(and John Trumbull) for including the extensive article on George
Wow, Wade, that is one ambitious project, producing a single Pérez’s Farewell Dinner. As a kid, I had seen and appreciated
edition of a comic collection! I’ll bet that Roy, Dann, Jerry, George’s artwork in a number of issues I owned beforehand,
and all involved with those original Infinity, Inc. issues are especially Justice League #195, noted by John in the same article.
honored by your effort. Then Crisis on Infinite Earths started arriving on the newsstands
Shown at right are several photos of the one-of-a-kind book and comic stores. Until that time, I had only followed specific
submitted by Wade. characters, rather than writers or artists. After the first issue of that

landmark series, I was hooked and started picking up anything the artwork looked sumptuous. I wish George Pérez all the best
and everything I could find with George’s art. Back in the early to in his retirement.
mid-’80s, there wasn’t a database or index anywhere compiling Nothing last forever, of course, but The New Teen Titans enjoyed
his credits (that I knew of anyway), so other than starting with the a good few years at the top of the comic tree, and that’s a lot more
obvious, The New Teen Titans, I had to hunt through back-issue than most manage. In a way, this runaway success proved to be
bins. I searched for any issue where George provided the cover art something of a problem for those that followed. For all that many
and hoped he also supplied the interior pencils. Any new issue I have tried, no subsequent iteration of the Titans has ever quite
could find with George’s art was a true treasure to me and spurred caught the imagination in the way that the 1980 version managed
me to find more. George was the first artist where I purchased any to do. But I suppose that.s the nature of magic.
comics, magazines, or collected editions with his work, and still – Simon Bullivant
do to this day. I even bought his creator-owned Crimson Plague
#1 twice, from two different publishers! There are only a small MWB ON THE ‘SON OF BATMAN’ AND MORE
handful of artists who I’ve added to that list over the years, but I Some commentary on BI #123 (“Superhero Romance Issue”).
still feel George is my favorite. I will miss George’s more frequent, Guess the common theme…:
continuing contribution to the comic world and wish him the best 1) Batman and the Outsiders Annual #2 was dated 1985, not,
in health and happiness. He definitely brought a lot of reading as stated on page 10, 1984.
happiness to me these past 40-odd years! 2) The story of the Tales of the Green Lantern Corps miniseries
I also enjoyed the rest of the issue’s top-notch articles and was not “by Barr and Wein,” as stated on page 62. The story was
features, as always, but I have one minor gripe: Glen Cadigan’s by me, the dialogue was by Len.
“Top 40 Moments” article. This is the second article written in this 3) On page 18, Robert Greenberger writes: “This story
style recently, and while it can be cool, and remind me of storylines [1987’s Batman: Son of the Demon] became controversial when
I may have forgotten or not known about, I would rather see it less the success following the 1989 Batman movie concerned DC
often. They look great online for quick reading, but can be seen as executives about Batman’s illegitimate son, and the story was
easy filler. I’ve subscribed to a number of different magazines over more or less disavowed.” As the writer of that story, everything
the years, and noticed their quality go down over time when this in that sentence is wrong. Despite the fact that I deliberately tied
style of article is used too frequently. Especially when this became into existing Batman continuity, at Editor Dick Giordano’s demand,
trendy during the advent of magazines going to on-line reading to establish that Batman and Talia were legitimately married, as
only (easy point and click ad revenue!). I know that’s probably Greenberger notes, Son became instantly controversial as soon as
not going to be the case here, but I would rather read an article it was published in 1987, not two years later. Jenette Kahn told
written about these pivotal and important moments in order, than me Warner Bros. execs saw the story and hated it. But it was also
just one paragraph each. I’m familiar with the Titans storylines, but instantly profitable, and remains so to this day, despite the fact that
someone who may be discovering them for the first time may find the fruit of Batman’s loins was equally instantly consigned to comic
it harder to see the scope of those 40 years when the timeline jumps book continuity limbo. I was not allowed to use him and was told
around as it does in a “list”-type article. With the previous Conan list no one ever would—until Grant Morrison decided he wanted to
(#121), it was acknowledged that the stories were not necessarily use the character, to which DC had no objections.
written chronologically, so kind of a different beast altogether. – Mike W. Barr
Thanks again for the great magazine and I still look forward to
every issue!
– Scott Andrews
Thanks for the letter, Scott, and the kind remarks about John
Trumbull’s Pérez tribute interview panel and about BI in general.
Both the Titans Top 40 and the Conan Top 50 articles were, as
you note, anniversary features and uncommon to the general scope
of the magazine. While both the aforementioned Mr. Cadigan and
the Conan article’s Steven Thompson did spectacular jobs on these
features, you probably won’t see articles of this type in the magazine
again, at least not any time soon.
THE MAGIC OF THE TITANS

Good grief. Is it really 40 years since The New Teen Titans burst onto
the scene? Where has the time gone?
Marv Wolfman and George Pérez’s creation was a shot in the
arm for DC Comics. It reinvigorated the company at a time when
their comic output was somewhat stodgy. Occasionally inspired,
but a little bit behind the curve, somehow. Wolfman and Pérez
changed that. I don’t think I had any great expectations at the
time—the previous incarnation of the Titans had been less than
memorable—but one look at the preview and all thoughts of what
had gone before were forgotten. I suppose it was the title that was
misleading, really. New it most definitely was, but there was a sense
that the group weren’t teens any more so much as young adults,
on the cusp of maturity. Mind you, “The New Young Adult Titans”
would never have worked as a title.
They encountered some memorable villains along the way—
Trigon and Brother Blood spring to mind—but it was the soap-
TM & © DC Comics.
opera elements that I most enjoyed, and which really brought

the personalities to life. There were friendships and relationships,
romance and misunderstanding—there was depth, character
and conflict. There was also a clear sense that the creators had a
vision and a long-term plan for the team. The words flowed and

SUPERGIRL’S SECRET MARRIAGE reflect on stories that had an impact on us one way or the other,
I enjoyed Bob Greenberger’s piece on Supergirl’s secret marriage in good or bad. I had never noticed the now obvious (thanks to the
BACK ISSUE #123. He quotes Anj of the excellent Supergirl’s Comic article) inference that Supergirl had at least experienced “love”
Book Commentary as saying Superman #415 might be “best as a woman, thanks to her marriage. Gee, that last sentence was
forgotten.” Bob then asks if the issue was indeed forgettable—but embarrassing to write!
Anj’s point was that the story most likely SHOULD be forgotten, I have an idea for a possible future article. How about stories
ignored, thoroughly Mopeed. detailing behind-the-scenes information about characters who
Yeah, a story like this would have been fine in the Silver Age, were killed off? And not just heroes, either. For example, what led
a daft one-off with no consequences, never to be mentioned again, Cary Bates to kill off Iris West Allen in The Flash #275? Did he know
but this gave us the final big development at the time that she might be revived at
in Kara’s life before her horrific slaughter some point? How about Skyman Sylvester
in Crisis on Infinite Earths. Sure, the whole Pemberton? It seemed at the time that
continuity was in the process of fading, Skyman’s death was going to radically
but what a memory, Kara married to some change the direction of Infinity, Inc., but
guy off-panel. It further pushed the idea we never got to see the results because
that Supergirl, who had dated more guys the book ended two issues later. Did
than Matter-Eater Lad had had hot dinners, Roy Thomas and Cary Bates have to get
would always imprint on the first male she approval from DC first, for example? I’ve
sees on waking up. also been curious about Rick Flag’s death
Cary Bates is one of my favorite writers; in Suicide Squad, and had the same kinds
I’d love to have seen him spend an issue of questions about why John Ostrander
with Superman mourning his cousin, killed him off and how much convincing
spending time with the Danvers and the it took for DC to let him. Just a thought.
Zor-Els… how awful that the last thing we Thanks again for BACK ISSUE!
ever heard from Alura was her wailing as – Daniel Brozak
Kal-El delivered the blasted corpse of her
beloved daughter. Just think what Cary, Interesting idea, Daniel, but I wonder
who gave us such heartwarming/heart- if it’s not the type of topic that might
breaking tales as “The Miraculous Return be best explored within the context of
of Jonathan Kent” and “Luthor’s Day of individual articles about the characters or
Reckoning,” could have done. series where those deaths occurred? That
To end on a more positive note, if any is a question I’ll have the writer of our
Bronze Age Superman fans missed Cary’s forthcoming article about Skyman/Star
2010 Elseworlds miniseries Last Family Spangled Kid, to appear in BACK ISSUE
of Krypton, illustrated by Renato Arlem, #133, explore. (And while I’m in plug
seek it out—you’re in for a treat! mode, BI #133 will be a “Starmen” issue
– Martin Gray that will explore James Robinson and Tony
Harris’ Starman, Roger Stern and Tom
TM & © DC Comics.
Martin, you’re in good company with Lyle’s Starman, Marvel’s Starjammers,
fellow Cary Bates fans here at BI Central. Incidentally, Eddy Zeno and Elaine Lee and Michael Wm. Kaluta’s Starstruck. If that
wrote Supergirl’s Secret Marriage article, not Bob Greenberger. doesn’t leave you starry-eyed, check your pulse!)
Bob wrote BI #123’s lead article surveying the Bronze Age’s
comic-book weddings. GUYS’ LOVE STORIES
BACK ISSUE #123 was a really great read, as usual! I breezed through
MORE ON SUPERGIRL’S MARRIAGE it in one day… couldn’t seem to put it down.
BACK ISSUE #123 was another great read from start to finish. – Tim Phillips
I only wanted to comment on Eddy Zeno’s much-appreciated
article on Supergirl’s Secret Marriage, from Superman #415. We love a captive, and captivated, audience, Tim. Thanks!
As a fan of Supergirl, her death in Crisis really
saddened me, but the aftermath of her death Next issue: A companion issue to this issue’s
left me frustrated. I don’t want to be too theme: “TV Toon Tie-ins”! The Bronze-tastic
critical of the way Superman was handled World of Hanna-Barbera Comics, Underdog,
in those pre-Crisis days—let’s just say the Mighty Mouse, Rocky and Bullwinkle, Pink
character wasn’t my cup of tea as written Panther, Battle of the Planets, and wildlife
and drawn then and leave it at that. So protectors Smokey Bear and Woodsy Owl.
picking up Superman #415 and finding out Bonus: SCOTT SHAW! digs up Captain
that Supergirl had been married to someone Carrot’s roots! Featuring JERRY BECK, JOHN
we had never seen before, who was from BYRNE, ERNIE COLÓN, TOM DeFALCO,
a planet we had never seen before, left me JIM ENGEL, MARK EVANIER, GARY FIELDS,
non-plussed, to say the least. Would it have MICHAEL GALLAGHER, FRANK JOHNSON,
been so hard for DC to let Paul Kupperburg MICHAEL KAZALEH, WIN MORTIMER,
write that story? As Supergirl’s primary writer FABIAN NICIEZA, PAUL NORRIS, JORGE
in her own book, I can’t help but think he PACHECO, MARIE SEVERIN, STEVE SKEATES,
would have written a story that could have MERRIE SPAETH, JOE STATON, TONY
actually referenced Linda/Supergirl’s history, TALLARICO, ALEX TOTH, BILL WILLIAMS,
rather that pulled out something out of thin MIKE ZECK, and more. Repurposing a 1972
air. I know it’s silly to discuss “what if” some Charlton Hanna-Barbera Parade cover by
35 years later, but that’s part of the appeal RAY DIRGO and friends. Don’t ask—just BI it!
of BACK ISSUE for me—the opportunity to See you in thirty!
Your friendly neighborhood Euryman
BACK ISSUE TM & © TwoMorrows Publishing. Michael Eury, editor-in-chief

RetroFan:
Pop Culture
You Grew Up
With!
If you love Pop Culture of the Sixties, RETROFAN #15 RETROFAN #16 RETROFAN #17
Seventies, and Eighties, editor MICHAEL Sixties teen idol RICKY NELSON remem-
bered by his son MATTHEW NELSON, The
An exclusive interview with Logan’s Run
star MICHAEL YORK, plus Logan’s Run
Dark Shadows’ Angelique, LARA PARKER,
sinks her fangs into an exclusive interview.
EURY’s latest magazine is just for you! Man from U.N.C.L.E., rural sitcom purge, novelist WILLIAM F. NOLAN and vehicle Plus: Rankin-Bass’ Mad Monster Party,
EVEL KNIEVEL toys, the Fabulous Furry customizer DEAN JEFFRIES. Plus: the Aurora Monster model kits, a chat with
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AFFAIR’s KATHY GARVER and The Brady of movie Frankenstein GLENN STRANGE, and NANCY MORGAN RITTER, first wife Dynomutt and Blue Falcon, Hogan’s Sixties TV shows! Plus: an unpublished
Bunch Variety Hour’s GERI “FAKE JAN” JULIE ANN REAMS. Plus: KOLCHAK THE of JOHN RITTER, shares stories about the Heroes’ BOB CRANE, a history of Wham- interview with Green Hornet VAN
REISCHL, ED “BIG DADDY” ROTH, NIGHT STALKER, ROD SERLING retrospec- TV funnyman. Plus: RICK GOLDSCHMIDT’s O’s Frisbee, Twilight Zone and other TV WILLIAMS, Bigfoot on Saturday morning
rare GODZILLA merchandise, Spaghetti tive, CASPER THE FRIENDLY GHOST, TV’s making of RUDOLPH THE RED-NOSED sci-fi anthologies, Who Created Archie television, TV’s Zoorama and the San
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ED
AND
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SE ION!
EDIT
THE WORLD OF JACK KIRBY’S KIRBY & LEE: MAC RABOY

TWOMORROWS DINGBAT LOVE STUF’ SAID Master of the Comics
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Two RICHARD ARNDT interviews reveal- Spotlight on Groovy GARY FRIEDRICH— JACK KIRBY is showcased cover-to-cover PAUL GUSTAVSON—Golden Age artist ALFREDO ALCALA is celebrated for his
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BACK ISSUE #127 BACK ISSUE #128 BACK ISSUE #129 BACK ISSUE #130 BACK ISSUE #131
SOLDIERS ISSUE! Sgt. Rock revivals, BRONZE AGE TV TIE-INS! TV-to-comic TV TOON TIE-INS! Bronze Age Hanna- BRONZE AGE PROMOS, ADS, AND THE KIRBY LEGACY AT DC! Explores Jack
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Edited by MICHAEL EURY, BACK ER

PROOFREADER BACKSEAT DRIVER: As Seen on TV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

BEYOND CAPES: Dark Shadows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Digital Editions! FLASHBACK: Superboy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Bronze Age TV Tie-ins Issue • BACK ISSUE • 1

2 • BACK ISSUE • Bronze Age TV Tie-ins Issue

Bronze Age TV Tie-ins Issue • BACK ISSUE • 3

of Superman in late 1970

4 • BACK ISSUE • Bronze Age TV Tie-ins Issue

Recolored detail from 1965 Gilligan’s Island

Gilligan’s Island (1964–1967): Producer Sherwood Schwartz’s other

Bronze Age TV Tie-ins Issue • BACK ISSUE • 5

6 • BACK ISSUE • Bronze Age TV Tie-ins Issue

Bronze Age TV Tie-ins Issue • BACK ISSUE • 7

Mark Harris is All Wet!

8 • BACK ISSUE • Bronze Age TV Tie-ins Issue

Bronze Age TV Tie-ins Issue • BACK ISSUE • 9

’80s and ’90s Flashbacks

10 • BACK ISSUE • Bronze Age TV Tie-ins Issue

• The A-Team (Mr. T): BI #36

© the respective copyright holde

© the respective copyright holde

Bronze Age TV Tie-ins Issue • BACK ISSUE • 11

12 • BACK ISSUE • Bronze Age TV Tie-ins Issue

Producer Dan Curtis’ Dark Shadows had premiered on ABC

Bronze Age TV Tie-ins Issue • BACK ISSUE • 13

14 • BACK ISSUE • Bronze Age TV Tie-ins Issue

Bronze Age TV Tie-ins Issue • BACK ISSUE • 15

16 • BACK ISSUE • Bronze Age TV Tie-ins Issue

Bronze Age TV Tie-ins Issue • BACK ISSUE • 17

spoof, appropriately in the comic entitled Library (http://booksteveslibrary.blogspot.com)

18 • BACK ISSUE • Bronze Age TV Tie-ins Issue

THE END OF A DYNASTY:

THE MOD SQUAD

This counterculture cop show, which

Fonz Faces Front

Bronze Age TV Tie-ins Issue • BACK ISSUE • 19

“Here’s the story of a lovely lady…” Some of us

show’s bouncy theme song by Harry Nilsson—

20 • BACK ISSUE • Bronze Age TV Tie-ins Issue

NANNY AND THE THE NEW PEOPLE

minutes per episode, The New People,

This family sitcom, a contemporary TV

Bronze Age TV Tie-ins Issue • BACK ISSUE • 21

As the ink was drying on federal legislation

THE YOUNG REBELS

You’re forgiven if you don’t recall this short-

lived ABC hour-long drama. The Young Rebels,

Jock Around the Clock

22 • BACK ISSUE • Bronze Age TV Tie-ins Issue

© Robert C. Dille/Universal Television.

police procedures and its establishment of

Bronze Age TV Tie-ins Issue • BACK ISSUE • 23

© Don Fedderson Productions.

CBS-TV’s The Governor and J.J.

Jody and J.J.

24 • BACK ISSUE • Bronze Age TV Tie-ins Issue

One of the biggest

television hits of the 1970s,

Bronze Age TV Tie-ins Issue • BACK ISSUE • 25

OLD GODS &

AMERICAN COMIC BOOK